Out of the Woods
by JenKristo
Summary: Being cornered by a monster was the last thing Conall expected when he entered the abandoned house in the woods, and neither he nor the Slenderman could anticipate the bond that would grow between them. Co-Authored with Griff! This story is M/M and is rated Mature.
1. Chapter 1

This story was co-authored with Griff, aka Spriinkola on tumblr. She writes Conall and I write Slend. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

A gust of wind passed through the trees, tugging off a few of the remaining leaves and sending them sailing to the ground. Black shoes brushed through them as the Slenderman walked, but the sound of it was absent. The trail behind him slowly disappeared as well, the dirt rising up to fill in each footprint.

The holiday season was on its way in this district, and the Slenderman knew he would find children out of school if he headed a little closer to the border of the woods. Empty months alone with the sound of creaking tree branches and skittering wildlife left him hungry. But there was a resolution, standing on the edge of a playground or watching them from across the street. Hearing their hearts beat faster, seeing the fright in their eyes would leave him satiated for a few months longer.

He continued to traipse through the woods until he picked up a scent, and then a sound. He craned his neck to the side to see a dingy house in the distance. He could hear voices, one in particular that left him with a strange sense of déjà vu. He changed directions, long steps pulling toward the voice.

Grin watched with an amused expression while his two friends played a game of 'tic, tac, toe' on the wall of what was probably the living room. The long wall was littered with drawings that had gathered on it through the years of them visiting the home, and some drawings from other kids that had discovered the building. "You guys can't find anything better to draw?" The young man hummed in amusement. The two grinning males glanced over to their vitiligo skinned friend, "Like what, Conall? You hardly ever do ANYTHING when we come here. No drugs, no drinking, not even tic, tac, toe. You might as well just be a stick in the mud."

The blond huffed right back to 'Grin' who promptly looked away from both of them. "I've got my reasons, okay?" He stood and strolled from the room before either of them could say anything else, and entered the kitchen. The walls had rotted more quickly than most in the house, he didn't bother to guess why they looked so bad, but if he had to he'd say it was water damage. Grin casually walked along the wood floor before he stopped at the dirty window, eyeing the busted sink on the wall below it. After years of coming to this place, he still did his best not to break, or touch anything that he didn't have to.

Yards away from the weathered house, the Slenderman listened to the exchange. That voice… it sounded different than it had before, deeper, but it was undoubtedly from the same human. He remembered him clearly, the child with dark eyelashes and beautiful skin.

Wanting to see the child again, the Slenderman approached one of the windows and bent down to look inside. A pair of boys drew symbols on the wall, Xs and Os, frustratingly close but never overlapping as they should. Not seeing the boy he was looking for, he made his way to the next window and then the next.

He tilted his head, focusing on the unexpected sight. The voice didn't belong to a child anymore; rather the unmistakable complexion belonged to a young man now. The Slenderman moved to the side, away from the window, and mulled over how he'd lost track of time. He looked inside again, studying the human's hair from behind, tousled and dark. The boy continued to turn, looking at the inside of the kitchen and giving the Slenderman a different angle to study. Oh, he would like to make that heart pound.

The Slenderman reached up and scaled the wall, slipping through the broken window on the second floor. He rested a silent foot on the floor and then set down the other, deliberately allowing the bowed panels to creak beneath him. If he'd calculated right, it would be just above his head.

He blinked when some material from the ceiling above him sprinkled down after the wood above him creaked. Maybe it was an animal? He knew there were plenty of kids that probably knew about this place, so maybe it was one of them? No, it was probably just the house itself settling, or something along those lines.

Conall shook his head and reached up with both hands to dust the ceiling off of his head while letting out a few low grumbles. He glanced back in the direction of the living room where his two friends were, then cautiously made his way towards the stairs, intending to go to the second floor. He'd just take a look up there and if he didn't see anything from the hallway, then he'd go right back down the stairs.

He stopped at the top step and took a look down the dim hall way, the only light came from the room that he guessed was over the kitchen. "Anyone in there?" he called out, figuring that if it was an animal it would take off at the sound of his voice.

The Slenderman stood behind the half-opened door, listening to the tentative heartbeat. It was a little faster than it had been downstairs, but only minimally. Mere curiosity could strike up a pulse this speed. Still, it was enough that he began to taste it in his mouth. It was the hesitation, the space from the top of the stairs to the door, everything keeping the human from stepping in right away.

He lifted his thin fingers and took hold of the door knob, pulling the door open a fraction in invitation. With a broken window, it could have been moved by the breeze.

Conall's hazel eyes widened slightly at the movement of the door and he was ready to hightail it right back down the stairs, but he didn't. 'It's just the wind. Stop being a baby.' He thought to himself and stepped up into the hall, his hand clutching the old railing beside the stairs like it was a life line. "Calm down…" He sucked in a slow breath and willed his beating heart to slow back down, all the while approaching the door. The lack of a response from the room told him that there was no animal and he was starting to think that this was all just the house, and maybe the wind.

He stopped just outside the door and took a look into the room, "…." He took one careful step into the room, putting some weight on it to make sure the floor wouldn't give out under him.

The Slenderman blacked out his vision as he listened to the heart, feeling the faint echo of it inside his own chest. 'Keep walking,' he thought to himself. He took in the scent of the human before he entered the room, pressing himself back against the wall as the door opened.

He watched the boy enter, vision flicking over his neck and down his back, straying to his fingertips and up again. His own fingers twitched impatiently, dark tentacles bleeding out of the back of his suit and crawling out against the peeling wallpaper. He repressed the urge to grab him, knowing moderation was the only way to prevent a heart attack. He took a quiet step forward and pushed the door closed.

He felt a wave of relief wash over him when he saw that there was no one in the room, but that relief was quickly replaced with surprise, and then dread. He jumped slightly when the door closed behind him and quickly turned to see who had closed it, but a slender faceless man was not what he expected to see. Conall had heard of people being paralyzed with fear, but this was the first time he-No,…this wasn't the first time. He remembered this feeling of fear as well as the faceless creature in front of him, but this realization didn't make the situation any easier. He stood there stuck in place while his heart hammered away at his chest.

A pleased snarl erupted in the Slenderman's throat, mouth watering from the sound of the boy's speeding pulse. He let out sharp jagged breaths; body slow to follow along with the terror racing through his expression. The Slenderman could see it slowly creeping in, the trembling in his hands and his mouth parting open. Soon he'd be able to run. The Slenderman took a long step forward, towering over him, soaking in every movement, sight and sound. He vented his own cold breath, displacing the human's hair.

All that was missing was a scream. Or anything really, just to hear that voice again. His hand twitched at his side as he considered touching him, a strange notion for a Slender who was usually averse to being tactile.

Aware of the ticking seconds he recoiled inwardly, not wanting the human to be frightened to death. A dark strand poured from his back and slithered along the floor, opening the door again. He stepped to the side to show him the exit.

"I..." Conall's voice came out higher than he would have liked, but it was appropriate for this situation. "I remember you."

Before he could really get anything else out, he found himself taking the chance to slip right out of the room. Sticking around for a chat didn't sound all that great with Mr. Faceless, so instead he sped down the steps, through the kitchen, and right out the front door. His friend scrambled towards the door and caught a glimpse of Conall disappearing off into the thick bush, "Wonder what's got into him…" One murmured, and then went to gather up the stuff they'd brought to the house. "Better go after him. It's getting late, anyway."

He watched the human run, reflecting momentarily on what he'd said. It did seem likely to remember such a thing, but that the human had spoken it aloud? He tried to remember back, but couldn't find the last time he'd been directly addressed… except… Except the one time, when the boy was a child. He remembered his little voice calling to him, but couldn't recall just what had happened.

To be continued.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Slenderman found himself lingering in the small town, his journey to the far end of the woods put on hiatus by curiosity. He followed the human's scent across town to a modest, but well-kept home. Watching in the windows he found an elderly man, and crawling upward he found the boy's bedroom. It was simple and uncluttered, giving little away about his personal interests. There did seem to be an excess of books, and from the looks of many of the cover designs, he seemed to like being put on edge.

Days passed and he followed him, always careful to step out of his line of sight before he was seen. Stalking a human was a profitable method of collecting fear, keeping them paranoid and allowing them to see once in a while. But the Slenderman felt more inclined to watch Conall, as he now knew him, in a natural and comfortable state. Conall went to the library daily, took the bus on some days, and spent enough hours inside that the creature suspected he worked there. One day he crept to a high window and watched him restocking the shelves. He watched closely even when nothing significant happened, and continued to watch until the boy's break. He sat with his lunch and an open book, something romantic from the look of it.

That afternoon the Slenderman found a place to sit on a bus bench, along the road that Conall took to get home. He stayed there, cloaking his appearance as he waited for him.

The days passed normally after the unsettling adventure out in the forest. Conall didn't tell anyone about what he'd seen, no one believed him before, and they'd probably have him locked up now, so he kept his mouth shut. Sleeping had been difficult for the first couple of nights after seeing the faceless being, but his sleeping schedule was beginning to get back to normal. "I'll see you tomorrow." He waved goodbye to the librarian before he walked out of the library, down the few stairs leading up to the building, and off towards the bus stop.

Conall glanced up at the cloudy sky with a wide frown, 'Looks like it's going to rain...I should probably just take the bus.' He sighed, looking down to stare at the side walk as he walked, stopping at the bus stop a few feet before the bench. He shoved his hands into his pockets after a few seconds of standing there, glancing over towards the bus bench to see who was sitting there.

The Slenderman looked up, watching the human approach. He looked around him, at the sky and the ground, oblivious. And then those eyes took hold of him and he stopped in his tracks. The Slenderman watched him, his own posture straight with his thin fingers laced together on his lap.

He had no plan from here, nor was he ever one to calculate things carefully. Plans were meant to go wrong, and he wouldn't assume they were solid if they could never really be so. So he watched the human, with the only simple intent of being seen until, perhaps, Conall might become accustomed to it. If not, then that was the way of things.

He unlaced his fingers and gestured to the other end of the bench, closest to where Conall was standing.

Conall stared at the being in silence for what felt like forever, his heart beating quickly in his chest. Why was this happening to him? What had he done in this life, or even a previous life, to deserve this being attention? And now the thing wanted him to sit with him? He blinked slowly, silently hoping the being would be gone when he opened them once more, but still it sat on the bench.

The young man took a step back and away from the bench and bus stop, mouth opening as he sucked in a breath to possibly scream. "What…Why..? I..." He couldn't get his thoughts together enough to have something intelligent come out of his mouth, but he was trying. "Who...Ah..You-I don't.."

The Slenderman lowered his head slightly. The human's pulse was racing, tantalizing him. He fought back the urge to further terrify him, knowing it was counterproductive to his curiosity.

He was afraid, yes, but he was talking and asking questions. That was good. The Slenderman had no intention of answering him but it was good to know he was curious. All he wanted now was for the human to manage being in his presence for more than a few seconds. He turned his wrist and pointed to the space on the bench, tapping it firmly. 'If you can talk,' he thought to himself, 'you can sit.'

He glanced over his shoulder to take a look at the library, considering whether he should book it back into the building, or run for it. If this thing wanted to kill him, then it would have a long time ago, right? Conall looked back in the direction of the bench, eyeing the spot the being wanted him to sit in, and then hesitantly approached him. "…" He sucked in a deep breath and slowly approached the bench, taking a seat right on the edge of it, as far away from the faceless being as possible.

'Calm down.' He thought to himself, struggling to slow his pounding heart. 'Breathe.' Conall closed his eyes and focused on his breathing.

The Slenderman watched him, listening to the almost imperceptible slowing of his heart. All other times it would be a loss, but there was something magnificent about a human willingly remaining in his presence. He could indulge in it now that his eyes were closed, same dark lashes lining his eyes that the Slenderman had remembered from years ago. He looked over the curve of his nose and the small movements of his lips as he took each breath. He studied the coloration of his skin, patches of pale and tan that reminded him of the sun shining through leaves. He looked at the collar of his grey scarf, wondering how far down his unusual complexion extended.

Conall's eyes flashed over to him and he turned away, realizing that perhaps staring wasn't the best method to make a human more comfortable. But he didn't blame himself; he'd never desired to make someone comfortable before. He waited until the human had closed his eyes again to continue studying him.

He heard the far away sound of the approaching bus and stood, deciding it would be best to leave him be for now. He took silent steps off the sidewalk and into the woods, heading off toward Conall's home.

His eyes opened again in time to see the slender being stand and then disappear off into the woods. "…Whew." His body went slack on the bench and he blew out a relieved sigh, the bus pulling to a stop to let Conall get on.

The rain started up right after Conall got on bus, which made him thankful that he decided not to walk. He couldn't help but think about the being on the ride home, he had so many questions regarding it, but he was in no hurry to ask. He shook his head and forced the thoughts to the back of his mind for the time being, he needed to figure out what to make for dinner tonight.

Conall said his goodbyes to the bus driver, pulled his hood up over his head, and then stepped out into the rain to run down the road to his house. He stopped on the sidewalk and took a weary look around, expecting the being to pop out any second, but quickly jogged up onto the front porch when nothing happened. He unlocked the door and entered the house quickly, "I'm home!" He called out as he walked down the hallway, pausing when he got sight of his grandpa sitting in the kitchen with a sandwich in his mouth. "Couldn't even wait for me to get home?" He asked, but held his hand up to stop the old man from even answering. "Never mind."

The Slenderman stood in the rain outside the young man's house, looking in the kitchen window as he made himself dinner. He seemed a little on edge, and he wondered if it had something to do with the bus stop. Of course it did, he concluded. No one simply forgot about being afraid, and not within the hour. What a shame.

He walked around to the front porch and climbed the pillar to the roof, slipping through the glass and into Conall's room. Two of the walls slanted up to the center with bare wooden beams, the opposite walls painted white. He looked around, at the neatly made bed with a blue comforter, and a desk by the window stacked with books. He made his way across the pale, oriental carpet to his open closet, shifting casually through Conall's clothes. In the far end he saw a black suit, perhaps for funerals or religious congregations, and found himself picturing Conall in it. He took the suit out of the closet and draped it over the desk chair.

Downstairs he could hear the human washing dishes, and headed back to the desk to pick out one of the books. He made himself comfortable sitting up on the boy's bed, flipping through the horror. The scene he opened up to told of a young child looking out their window and seeing the reaper standing beneath a lamp post in the night. The child ran to the door and the reaper stood there, his shadow crawling across the floor toward the child's bare feet. The Slenderman continued to read as he listened to footsteps coming up the stairs. Despite his curiosity, he didn't look up as the door began to open.

Conall looked up from the mail he had in his hand and stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted the familiar figure sitting on his bed. "I'll come back later." He nodded to himself and back tracked right out of his room, closing the door as quietly as he could. 'Okay, okay, okay.' He thought, stepping back away from the door to stare at it. "Okay." He lifted his free hand up to rub his forehead, 'I'll just go in and act like it's not even there.'

"Yeah, that's a good idea." He spoke aloud to reassure himself before he entered the room once more, eyes once more on the mail he held. It was from his mother, who lived in the city, but he wasn't all that eager to open the letter up, it was probably bad news about something. Conall tossed it on his desk and cocked his head to the side at the sight of his suit draped over the chair, glancing in the direction of the being on his bed. "..Okay then.." He murmured and simply let it be.

He turned and went over to his dresser to take out some clothes to sleep in, though he doubted he'd be able to get to sleep with Mr. Faceless sitting on his bed. Maybe if he went to take a shower the thing would be gone by the time he returned, though he had a feeling it wouldn't be.

The Slenderman continued to read for a few minutes after Conall had left the room with clothes and a towel. At the end of a chapter he closed the book and headed to the bathroom, walking through the door since it had been locked. The heat and the humidity in the room were something he was unaccustomed to, rarely travelling to the southern portions of the continent, and he felt himself enjoying it. He looked around the small, steamy room, at the foggy mirror and the pile of clothes on the counter, and at the dark shower curtain. Having existed without rules or interest in propriety for so long, it was very, very difficult for him to resist opening the curtain. Conall would be wet and slippery and appealing, and he would get to look at the extent of the patterns on his skin.

But he decided against it, instead taking the old clothes and new clothes, as well as the boy's towel. He brought everything back into the bedroom and dumped it on the floor, returning to the bathroom with the suit. He hooked the suit on the empty towel rack and went back to start the next chapter of 'Premium Shadow'.

The shower was pleasant enough when Conall managed to stop picturing himself being murdered in the bathroom. 'I need to cut back on the horror stories.' He chuckled lightly and turned off the shower water before he stepped out, "…" He stared at the suit on the towel rack with a disbelieving look on his face, "That fucker." Conall let out a low groan and let his head hang while face palming, standing there in the nude for about 30 seconds before he got moving.

The young man took the suit in arms and stepped out into the cool air, shivering as he scurried to a closet at the end of the hall that held towels. He slipped into his grandfather's room to dry off, then wrapped the towel around his waist, and hesitantly made his way back up to his bedroom. He stopped outside the door and ran his fingers through his wet hair to brush it out of his face, other arm was holding his semi wet suit against his side. Conall entered his room carefully, ready to bolt right back out the room in case the being tried to do anything. "Did you seriously take my clothes?"

The Slenderman had been curious as to how Conall would look in his suit, but forgot it the instant he looked up and saw him. The book in his hands dropped to the bed as he teleported, appearing behind him, shutting the door and effectively blocking his exit.

Conall turned around quickly and the Slenderman took the suit from him, tossing it aside as he approached.

Conall found himself backing right up until he bumped against his desk chair, which he promptly grabbed, and pulled it in front of him as he bumped against the edge of the desk next. He held the chair with one hand and held the towel around his waist with the other, so it didn't fall off of him. "Whoa there tall guy, back it the hell up. Ever heard of personal space? How about you get out of my room entirely?" he laughed nervously, glancing in the direction of his dresser. Maybe he could try to get to his hunting knife? Would that even be a good idea? "Stay away or I swear I will scream."

The Slenderman paused at the threat and finally contemplated what he'd said. No, he'd never cared much about personal space. And no, he didn't feel like going anywhere either. Never had he felt so inclined to stay. He tilted his head, following Conall's momentary interest in his dresser, and took a sideways step over to it to look. Inside were a few things, but predominantly a striking hunting knife. He knew just what a knife would and wouldn't do to him, but Conall didn't. Not that it mattered. He picked it up by the blade, lifting it and showing it to the tense human. Carefully he came closer, holding it out for him to take.

Conall reached out and took the blade, and as soon as he had it the Slenderman took the chair out from between them and took another step closer, vision trailing over the markings on him, which mostly stopped below his throat, and reappeared on the ends of his limbs. He looked back up and watched the water streak down his face from his damp hair, and settled on a fierce pair of eyes.

He kept still once he had a hold of his hunting knife, though the fact that the being was the one that had given it to him did not make him feel any safer. "…It's a skin condition called vitiligo…" He explained in a calmer, but shaky voice. He was more than uncomfortable in this situation, but he wasn't going to try anything, not yet at least. This thing had given him his blade; maybe he could get it to give him his clothes as well? No, that probably wouldn't work and he really didn't want to put on his suit. Conall noticed the beings held tilt back up and guessed that it was again looking at his face, but he couldn't quite tell.

He scooted off to the right slowly, hoping to circle slowly around the being and back to the door of his room to hopefully leave.

The Slenderman could once again taste his fear, but it tasted bitter now. He knew this kind of fear and had a strong aversion to it, stepping back to give Conall space. He began to feel sick from the taste and quickly teleported out of the room and into the yard.

He headed back to the woods, staying close enough to see the light in Conall's bedroom window. Satisfied with the distance, he crawled into a bare tree and stayed there to rest for a while.

To be continued.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The last two weeks had been surprisingly calm for Conall, everything was seemingly normal again, but he didn't doubt that the being was still around. He was still on the fence about the being, but if it wanted to kill him it probably would have by now, unless it liked to torture its victims first. He tried not to dwell on the thought of the suit wearing monster for too long, but it proved difficult not to do so when he wasn't busy.

He stepped out of the library and pulled his hood up over his head before he ventured out into the light rain. He kept a wary eye out for any slender being that could be lurking as he made his way to the bus stop, standing next to the bench with his hands in his pockets.

The Slenderman stood a few feet back in the woods behind the bus stop. The rain slipped down between the leaves and dropped through him, as he didn't feel like getting wet right then.

He'd kept careful tabs on Conall, listening to the sound of his heart and how often it began to speed. The first few days after his appearance had been the worst, considerable spikes each time he had to step into his bedroom. But the last few days he'd been especially calm.

The Slenderman looked off to the side. He could hear the bus in the far distance but it had a number of turns and stops to make before arriving. He turned back to Conall, deciding not to wait any longer. The human wouldn't be around forever.

He teleported forward, sitting on the far end of the bench where he'd been the first time. He laced his fingers together somewhat more nervously than he had the first time and turned to face Conall.

He jumped back away from the bench when the Slenderman popped up on the bench, letting out a surprised yell in the process. He ended up slipping and falling back onto the wet sidewalk, groaning a bit after he landed hard on his ass—he might as well have sat on the wet bench at this point. Conall let his head hang back, hood falling back off of his head, and panted a bit from the scare he'd just gotten. "Well, hello to you too." He finally spoke once he calmed down, not even bothering to get up from the wet side walk at this point, his pants were already soaked.

He couldn't help but glare at the being sitting on the bench, "Lovely to see you again." He wondered if the thing knew what sarcasm was, but he shook the thought away before he stood up. Conall pulled his hood back over his head and sat on the wet bench now, grumbling a bit to himself about being wet.

The Slenderman quickly leaned forward to see if Conall had been wounded from the fall, but he seemed to be relatively alright as he sat on the bench. The sarcasm confirmed him as being alright.

Still, he watched the rain shower down, further dampening his clothes. He himself was perfectly dry, and felt strangely guilty for being so. It only took him a moment to make up his mind. And even with it made up, there was no telling Conall would go along with it. Either way he would make the offer. The bus was still far away.

The Slenderman had no voice of his own, but brought forth his memories of humans in the past, their voices and whispers and compiled them into something he could use. Without opening his mouth he used his memory of the voices to speak, just clearly enough for Conall to hear him.

"Conall… are you cold?"

He was a little more relaxed around the being this time around; he wasn't as worried about being murdered, or eaten. This wouldn't be the first time he'd gotten stuck out in the rain and completely drenched, but that didn't make it any easier to deal with, he'd probably get sick because of this. Conall paused when a voice came out of the being for the first time ever, "Uh…y...yeah..i'm wet too." He added, trying to hide the shock and surprised that he was feeling. 'Maybe speaking is hard for him? He doesn't have a mouth..' he thought reached out to palm the being's face without even thinking.

His wet hand felt over the being's flat face, silently trying to figure out how on earth sound was coming out of the thing. "How the fuck.." He whispered, completely enthralled at the moment. If this got his hand sliced off, then so be it. Sacrificed had to be made for science.

A shudder raced through the Slenderman as the human's warm hand pressed against him. It felt damp, and was probably cold from a human's standpoint, but everything about a human was warm in comparison to him. He allowed Conall to touch him for a few moments before speaking.

"Ever heard of personal space?" he repeated, using Conall's voice from two weeks ago.

"Oh—"He pulled his hand back quickly when he realized what he was actually doing, "Funny." Conall knitted his brows together and pursed his lips for a second before he quickly corrected his expression, letting it return to its neutral state. "So you…use the voices of others…okay." He nodded slightly, shoving his hands back into his pockets to hopefully warm them back up. He glanced away from the being to take a look down the streets in the direction that the bus usually came, silently hoping it would hurry up and come.

"Sorry for, uh, doing that." He apologized, returning his gaze to the being he was sitting next to. He guessed it was okay to get home late tonight, it was left overs night, so he didn't have to worry about making dinner for his grandpa. However, he did mind sitting out in the rain.

The Slenderman didn't reply to the apology, not feeling terribly obligated to do so. It wasn't really something that needed an apology for anyway. He turned his head in the direction of the bus, which was taking longer than it should. From the sound of it, there was quite a lot of people riding today.

He stood up from the bench, pulling off his black suit jacket in one movement. The rain fell through him just as it had before. He turned to Conall and took a slow step toward him. "Stay calm."

Conall jumped slightly when the being stood up and took his suit jacket off, "I'm calm." He kept his hands in his pockets and watched as the slender being draped the jacket over his shoulders. It was a sweet gesture and the young man did appreciate it, since the thing—the guy didn't have to let him use his jacket. He removed his hands from his pockets and pulled it around his body just a bit more, "Thank you." He murmured feeling a bit embarrassed suddenly.

The Slenderman listened, and wondered briefly if the human thought he was supposed to stay calm just from him standing up. He came closer and stooped over in front of Conall, placing his hands over Conall's. The contrast was intense, his own hands colorless and bony, fingers unnaturally long. Conall's were smaller, warmer and more proportional, with a healthy coloration despite the pale patterns. Beautiful hands, he thought.

He looked up. "Close your eyes… and stay… calm."

Conall hesitantly followed his command, shutting his eyes. The Slenderman had never done this with a human, but was fully confident it would work. He tightened his hold on the human's hands and teleported them into his bedroom.

In the room, Conall was sitting on his bed and the Slenderman crouched on his rug. He had never felt anything from teleporting other than the unexpected change of temperature and other surrounding sensations, and hoped that the human felt little else as well. He watched him as he opened his eyes.

He didn't have to open his eyes to recognize that there had been a change of scenery; he opened his eyes to see if he was just imagining it. No, they were definitely in his room now. Conall took a slow look around the room before his eyes found the being's face once more, a goofy grin spread across his face. "That was fuckin awesome." The words came out in a whisper and he pulled one hand free from the Slender's grip to cover his own face, still grinning like an idiot. "Man, where were you when I was going to school?" He chuckled, heart pounding from excitement this time around.

"I would have never been late to school with you around. I could have avoided the after school bullies as well." Conall shook his head, grin dying down to a light smile now. "Thanks once more."

Excitement was the last thing the Slenderman had expected, having had no experience whatsoever with being the cause of anything positive for a human. Seeing him this way, smiling and giddy and wishing he had arrived earlier, was strangely rewarding.

And something else, the pounding in his heart, that was unusual. There was no fear for him to taste, but he could feel it in his own chest the way he'd often felt when terrorizing prey. But this felt infinitely better.

He stood up, somewhat overwhelmed, and looked out the window just for something else to look at. Feeling satisfied was customary for him, but feeling good was… out of his comfort zone. He glanced back at him and at his coat, feeling exposed without it in front of a human.

Conall quickly sobered up and stood with the coat around him, taking it off of his shoulders to hold it up to the taller being. "Here." He smiled as the Slender took it from him, then walked over to his dresser while he peeled his soaked clothing from his body. He had a feeling the being wouldn't leave even if he asked, so he just went about his usual routine when it came to being rain soaked. The young man stripped out of his wet clothes and dropped them in a clothes hamper in the corner of the room, leaving on his boxers for obvious reasons. He strolled back over to his dresser and took the time to pick out some warm clothes to change into once he showered, silently hoping the being wouldn't troll him again.

The Slenderman gratefully accepted his coat, slipping it on and feeling whole again. And to his surprise, it held a faint amount of the human's warmth. But he was quickly distracted as he turned and saw Conall stripping out of his clothes. He stayed completely still, watching him until he left the room.

With the door shut he loosened up, still a little bewildered. He paced back and turned, looking for something else to distract him. He opened a few drawers but found nothing of interest aside from the knife, not bothering to close them after exploring. He headed to the closet to see if there was anything new, but it all seemed to be the same. There in the back of the closet was the suit again. He carried it to the bathroom door and paused, a bad feeling coming over him.

He stood at the door, replaying the string of events from two weeks ago and how terrible it left him feeling. Conall had been angry and afraid of him. And he seemed to be so comfortable now. The Slenderman had never needed to learn much, but he was now learning what not to do if he wanted Conall to remain comfortable. He returned to the bedroom and tossed the suit over the chair, looking through the closet again to preoccupy himself. After tugging out a few shirts and dropping them, he found an especially soft and worn t-shirt and curiously tried it on. He had to move slowly to avoid tearing it, and stood in front of the mirror with revulsion at his exposed midsection. It was far too short. He pulled it off and tossed it on the floor, returning back to his suit. He picked up one of the books and made himself comfortable on Conall's bed as he waited.

Conall took a speedy shower and when he finally left the bathroom he was dressed in a long sleeved shirt and a pair of sleeping pants. He quietly made his way down the stairs and greeted his grandfather, who was rather surprised to see him standing there in his PJ's. "Oh..you didn't hear me come in? I guess I..just, uh, forgot to call out like I usually do. I was in a rush to get out of my wet clothes." He explained as well as he could, having trouble just lying to his grandpa in general.

He escaped from his grandpa after a few minutes of speaking, grabbed a quick snack from the kitchen, and then ran back up the stairs with a bottle of water in hand. Conall didn't exactly expect to see the mess he returned to, but he did find some humor in it. "Have fun while I was away?" He asked, a goofy grin forming on his face once more, shook his head as he closed the door behind him slowly. He made his way across the room and paused at his dresser, using the comb on top of it to comb through his wet hair.

Tossing his book onto the bedside table, the Slenderman leaned back against the pillows in response to Conall's question. He was entirely at home in the mess he'd made. He sat up a little straighter when he saw him smiling.

Curious about the grooming, he rose to his feet and took a few steps across the room to the young man's side. Their height difference was large, the human's head barely meeting his chest. He found himself stooping over to watch the comb running through his hair, largely forgetting their exchanges regarding personal space. He began to raise his hand to touch his hair and finally remembered, instead dropping it to the dresser.

Conall stilled as the slender approached before he continued combing through his wet locks, wincing each time he encountered a knot. He was very much aware of just how close the other was and the fact that his previous request for space was being broken, though he didn't mind having to remind the other. "…You remembered." He noted after the slender's hand was lifted and then lowered again. He appreciated that the being didn't touch him, "…Uh.." Conall set the comb down on the edge of the dresser and thought for a moment. "You can..um…touch my hair if you want. You have my permission."

He gave a nod and turned slowly to face the taller being, motioning up to his combed back hair. "Go ahead. I know you wanna."

The Slenderman straightened up at the offer. He raised his hands up a little and then dropped them, still somewhat perplexed by the offer and not sure if there was something specific he was supposed to do. He finally let it go and raised his hands, first sliding his fingers over some of the hair, and then pressing the tips of his fingers lightly near Conall's temple and running them back through it. His hair was thick and smooth, the dampness remaining on his hands when he let go. He moved around back and ran his fingers up from the back of his neck, lifting the longer locks into strange angles before brushing it back. He felt as if he could continue for forever, but made himself stop after a few moments. With his hands at his sides, he could still feel the dampness.

"Th-Thank you…"

The young man would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy the feeling of fingers in his hair. Conall just closed his eyes and let the Slender do what he wanted with his hair. He couldn't help but wonder if it was weird that he was enjoying himself so much, after all it wasn't like he normally let people do this to him, so maybe it was weird? He opened his eyes when the being's hands finally retreated and he took a moment to just regain his bearing, "Oh…uh—No problem." Conall gave him a quick thumbs up, ran his hands over his hair, then slipped past the taller being to start cleaning up the mess. "Were you looking for something in my clothes?" He hummed, trying to pick up the clothes, but ended up just kicking everything into his closet.

He'd get to those when he felt like it, "I see you took out my suit again. You really want me to put it on, huh?" Conall felt like he was starting to talk too much, it was something he did whenever he got a bit flustered around someone and blabbing really didn't help out the situation most of the time.

He looked away from Conall, beginning to feel foolish for having gone to such lengths to try and get him to wear it.

It took him a moment to formulate what he wanted to say. But he started to find it easier to lace together different sounds from past voices rather than taking whole words from different sources. He just had to be careful to keep from using animal sounds.

With one hand he gestured to himself. "Slendermen… like suits."

He rolled his eyes at the comment and walked over to the desk chair to pick up and slip the dress suit coat on over the long sleeve shirt he wore. He buttoned it up quickly, took off his sleep pants, and then pulled on the suit pants as well. "I'm not even going to try to find my tie and button up shirt, so this is as much as a treat as you're going to get tonight." He chuckled and turned to face the being once more, showing off the black suit his mother had given him. Conall used both hands to smooth the fabric down, "And that's what you're called? Slenderman?" He eyed the other for a moment, "I guess it fits…"

The Slenderman lost his ability to focus on anything else when Conall put on his suit. He could see his mouth moving but couldn't hear a word. His thoughts swarmed, having wanted to see him in the suit, and now so badly wanting to take it off him. No. He wanted to rip it off.

A deep growl curled out of his throat and he froze, quickly coming to his senses. He covered the lower part of his face to stifle the sound, which was starting to formulate into a raspy purr. He turned around; hoping that seeing something else would calm him.

Conall watched the Slenderman react and emit noises that he could only assume meant he was pleased, which was good…? He had jumped slightly at the growl and thought that he was about to be attacked, but then it turned into a purr, and he just cocked his head to the side. "You—"His voice cracked, "You okay there, buddy?" He asked sounding a bit embarrassed about the voice crack.

He unbuttoned his coat and hung it back on the chair while the being was busy dealing with what he assumed was excitement. He sort of wanted to tease the other about it, but he was unsure how he would deal with being teased, so he resisted. Instead, he just focused on changing back into his pj's.

After a moment with his vision blacked out, the Slenderman managed to get his voice under control. He stood there taking in the silence after his outburst, not wanting to turn around until he was sure Conall had changed out of the suit. When he finally glanced back he was straightening out the waist of his PJ pants. The Slenderman looked at him for a moment, watching his eyes flash up at him as he turned, and knew he still wanted to take off his clothes. It was time to leave.

He took a few long steps to the window and looked out at the now darkened sky and jagged tree line. He opened it, a crisp Fall breeze entering the room and moving the curtains.

To be continued.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After the Slender disappeared, the week had gone on normal enough—normal as it could get for Conall. He spent two days sick in bed while wondering why the Slenderman disappeared off to every time he left. He wanted to ask the tall being about it, but at the same time he was unsure if he even wanted to know. What if he really didn't leave? What if he just stalked him from a far? That would creepy and rather unsettling, so maybe just wondering was for the best.

After two days of being ill, he finally felt well enough to get up and go do some work, so he did manage that. He was a little sad not to see the being at the bus stop, but he resisted the urge to go look around for him, the guy would come when he was ready. At least, that's what Conall told himself. The rest of the week passed like that until he was invited to go to the old house, which he accepted. "I'll meet you two there." He murmured quietly, bid the other male on the phone goodnight, and then got some clothes out for the morning.

Conall never really cared to ask why they always invited him to go to the house; it wasn't like he ever really did anything there. Despite that, he got up around 10 in the morning, dragged himself around the place until 12, and then got dressed to leave. He met up with the two along a path in the forest, "Yo.." He greeted the two, yawning a bit while he stood there. The young man hadn't even bothered to brush his hair; he just pulled it into a ponytail, and then put on a blue hoodie.

"Hey," Jesse said, scratching his head and ruffling his blonde hair. "Got some amazing green from my cousin visiting from Denver. Too bad you're not game. You're going to miss out." He turned to the other boy instead, elbowing him with enthusiasm over the find.

They continued until they reached the old house, Jesse sprawling into his usual place on the tattered couch. He leaned forward, wiping off the coffee table before beginning to roll a joint.

In the distance, out of sight, the Slenderman followed along. After leaving Conall he'd taken the opportunity to go feeding, terrifying a young couple making out behind the Post Office, and then a cluster of girls playing on the far end of the playground. All other times he would be fixated on his new prey, but it all felt lackluster with Conall on his mind. He found himself wondering what he was doing more than where he was going to search next.

After a few days he felt satisfied and returned to Conall's stomping grounds to search for him. He waited outside his house and followed him into the woods, until now.

"Not my thing, but I know you two will enjoy yourselves for me." Conall rolled his eyes and simply chose to walk along behind the two taller males. Once at the house, Fred plopped down next to Jess and began doing the same, glancing over in Conall's direction. "You sure you don't want to at least try?" He hummed, eyes quickly returning to what he was doing with his hands. Conall held his hands up and backed out of the room and into the kitchen, nearly tripping over a chunk of ceiling that had fallen to the floor.

He managed to catch himself and let out a sigh, looking up at the uneven ceiling that had pockets of rain water weighing it down. "You two are really going to have to find a new place to do this shit. This house is falling apart." He called to the two in the two in the front room, but he doubted they would even care; this wasn't the first time he'd complained about the house.

The Slenderman approached the house, walking up to one of the kitchen windows that had been left open. The wood all around it was rotten and a little soft. He stooped forward, crossing his arms and leaning against the window to wait for Conall to turn around.

After about a minute of staring up at the ceiling, Conall turned around to spot the familiar being 'chilling' there in the window with his long arms folded. He smirked slightly and cocked his head to the side while regarding the suit wearing male, "Hey buddy." He greeted in a quiet voice, carefully approaching the window to reach through it, wrapping his arms firmly around the other's shoulders in a hug. He had to admit that he'd been worried that the Slenderman wasn't going to return, the more time he spent with the guy the more he was worried that he would leave for good. "Good to see you." He released the being after a moment and stepped back away from the window, rubbing the back of his neck lightly as he looked away.

He remained still as the young man wrapped his arms around him, shock drowned out by his comforting familiarity. It was his warmth, the pleasant smell of him and the softness of his hair against the side of the Slenderman's face that made him sad as soon as he was let go.

He reached up and brushed his fingers through Conall's hair, but immediately felt it might seem strange and corrected himself by ruffling it into a mess with a few swipes.

He snickered lightly while having his hair ruffled, reaching up to playfully bat Slend's hand away, smiling wide while doing so. He motioned for the slender to back up out of the window, waiting long enough for him to comply, and then slipped out of the window to stand outside with the other. "My friends are in the other room, so it's probably best that I just come out here." He explained with a shrug, reaching up with both hands to attempt to make his hair look somewhat presentable. Conall gave up after only a few seconds of raking his fingers through his hair and just shrugged, it wasn't like the being would judge him for how his hair looked.

"But, uh…yeah.. It's good to see you again. This might sound weird, but I missed you." That probably did sound weird and it definitely wasn't something he'd normally say to another human, but this was no human. He shoved his hands into his pockets and took a glance around, then looked over his shoulder to see back into the house to make sure no one was there. He doubted his friends would react very well to seeing the Slenderman.

The Slenderman stood there dumbly, his last three words echoing in his mind. He'd been wondering between two possibilities; that Conall might be glad to have been rid of the paranormal entity, or if he was very lucky, annoyed that he'd left without an explanation. But here he was experiencing his first hug, and… Conall missed him?

But he quickly came down from the clouds as he heard one of the humans call out. "Hey, what're you doing in there?" one of the boys said from inside. The Slenderman looked up and listened, determining that no one was walking into the kitchen. He looked down at Conall, who was far too short to climb back in the window from which he'd jumped. He stood there awkwardly, not sure what the human would want to do.

Conall looked back up towards the window and made a split decision that he'd have to make up some lie about later on. "Come on." He quickly made his way from the side of the house and into the forest, careful not to make too much noise while moving through the woods. He could always tell the two that he remembered he had something to do, or something simple like that, but he didn't doubt they'd want more info than that. 'I'll come up with something later.' He thought, glancing over his shoulder to see if the being was following him, or not.

He stopped once they were a good distance away from the house where he could talk and not worry about others hearing, course he had considered whether someone would be able to hear him scream. Conall did like the Slenderman and all, but he couldn't help but wonder if the guy was just going to end up murdering him at some point. Of course, he had these doubts about mostly everyone, but that was just all those horror books coming back to bite him in the butt. "There." He nodded and leaned back against a tree, fishing his cell phone out of his pocket to see if he got a signal.

The Slenderman followed him deeper into the woods, looking at the yellow and orange leaves on the ground as he walked. When they finally stopped he looked up, watching the human lean against a tree and examine his phone.

There was nothing curious about a Slenderman being in the woods but he found himself wondering why Conall wanted to be here. When he put his phone away and turned to him, he could only figure that there wasn't a reason. It was a nice day after all.

He glanced at one of the trees which was a deep shade of red, thinking that he probably took his setting for granted too often. It was a beautiful time of year. He looked around, determining where they were, and walked by Conall, giving his ear a gentle tug. He began to walk farther into the woods, turning back to see if he would follow.

The phone didn't have any service out amongst the trees, so that lie was out. He shook his head slightly at himself for being such a crap liar, snapping out of his thoughts when his ear was tugged. "Oh—Sorry." He apologized without thinking, and then actually looked to see why his ear had been tugged. "Oh.." Conally gave a sheepish grin and glanced back in the direction of the house before he silently followed after the taller being.

They continued to walk for a while, the Slenderman slowing his pace to meet the human's. It was easy for him to forget; with such long legs it didn't take many steps to go far. When he'd slowed to walk with Conall, he looked down at him and his hands buried in his pockets, and imitated it himself.

As they walked, he started to wonder if it was a longer journey than Conall would be up for, not sure if a short trip for a Slenderman was still short for a human. From his calculation, the destination was about half a mile from where they were.

He followed along behind the slender for a few minutes, images his him being murdered out in the forest flashing through his head, but convinced himself that wasn't going to happen. 'Man, I need to cut back on the horror books.' He thought and chuckled quietly to himself, looking down as the forest floor while he walked to avoid tripping over branches, and such. Last thing he wanted to do now was face plant out in the forest, "So, uh," He took a few quick steps to catch up and walk besides the being now. "May I ask where we're heading? You're not gonna murder me, right?" He joked about the last part, hoping the answer wasn't a 'yes'.

The tall being stopped in his tracks, looking down with surprise. He sounded like he was joking, but was that really on Conall's mind? His pulse hadn't been fast, but when the Slenderman honed in on him he did feel a twinge of apprehension.

He searched for the right sounds to comprise his words, but it was difficult when he wasn't sure what he wanted to say. "In my youth… I terrified a human to death. It was an accident." He looked off to the side, hands fidgeting together. He didn't know why he'd told him that. He'd never told anyone, not even his own kind. Realizing he hadn't answered his question, he continued. "I wouldn't… hurt you."

"Terrified a human to death..? Like..a heart attack?" He could see something happening like that to an older person, like his grandpa, but surely something like that couldn't happen to someone his age. Conall let out a relieved sigh when he heard the last words and reached out to take the beings fidgeting hands in his own. "Good to hear and..um..accidents happen, they happen a lot when you're young, but then you learn from them." He released the others hands after a moment and gave a nod, "You gonna answer my first question or is it a surprise?"

The Slenderman's chest felt tight as Conall responded. It had taken a long time of mourning and self-doubt for him to come to that conclusion, and it was the first time he'd heard another speak it aloud. And that a human had spoken it, a young human too, reminded him what slow learners the Slendermen were. He was grateful now more than ever to have come across the human for a second time in its brief lifetime.

He shook his head 'no' in response to Conall's last question, feeling that he'd spoken enough for the moment. They continued into the woods, slow clouds drifting over now and then and blocking out the sun. They finally reached their destination as a cloud moved out of the way, sunlight streaming through the colored leaves.

The Slenderman pointed upward, at an old tree house built high up in a large tree. Long ago someone had dedicated a lot of time to the structure, which he'd explored himself before. It held a large room and multi-paned windows, which were miraculously unbroken after a decade of abandonment. Down the tree was a spiral staircase, and the Slenderman led Conall to the bottom. Unsure of the structural integrity of the stairs, which he'd never bothered to use, he gestured for Conall to go first so he could keep watch of him if anything happened.

The Slenderman listened closely to the sound of the wooden staircase, to the creaking and moaning and subtle vibrations of it bending beneath Conall's weight. His fingers extended into claws and he trailed his left hand along the bark, ready to grip onto it if necessary.

They were high up and close to the tree house when he heard the deep groaning of the wood, and desperately looked down to figure out which piece was failing. But it was the railing that snapped, breaking off beside Conall and pulling out of his grasp as it fell.

Instantaneously, the Slenderman's tentacles burst from the back of his suit jacket and wrapped around the trunk and the staircase to anchor them. He dug his claws into the bark, grabbing Conall around the waist with his other arm. The staircase itself seemed to be secure, but he waited a moment anyway.

At some point of the journey up the stairs, Conall managed to come to the conclusion that the Slender probably had never used these stairs before. That conclusion became more evident when the banister decided to keel over while he held it, but the Slender's quick reaction probably kept him from falling over board with the railing. "If you wanna do that teleporting thing you, uh, have my permission. " He gave a shaky laugh, heart pounding from the scare he'd just gotten, but he was still in good spirits.

"As fun as scaling stairs is, I don't think possibly falling to my death is really worth it." He was rather thankful to have the being's arm wrapped around his waist, though he wasn't sure this was his ideal situation for it to happen in.

The Slenderman agreed on all counts. Carefully he released the tree in order to remove his suit jacket, then turned Conall to face him. He put the jacket over his shoulders and took his hands, teleporting them into the tree house.

Inside, the room had a low ceiling that he had to stoop in order to fit beneath. The room contained a few small pieces of furniture, a dusty card table, a long bench and a painting easel. Finding it impossible to stand, the Slenderman pulled up the bench and sat down. The room was a dirty place to be, but he found the view to be worth it.

He slipped his arms into the long sleeves of the suit jacket; chuckling a bit at how much longer the sleeves were on his arms, so much so that they were dragging on the ground. Conall took a moment to roll up the sleeves to keep them from getting dirty, "This place is amazing.." He smiled, carefully making his way around the place, not really minding the dirt. "I bet it looked even better when it was first put together."

The young man paused at the painting easel for a moment, looking it over for a moment, then continued on to the next thing till he found himself at the window. The view was definitely to die for, "Okay, this place just got even better…I'm surprised it's no longer in use. Maybe the person who made it died." He hummed, really just thinking out loud.

A few decades ago the Slenderman had come past this part of the woods and there had been nothing, and the next time he'd found the place abandoned. Things often happened that way, time passing so fast with more things to take in than were possible. But the Slenderman didn't think much about the passage of time, especially now when he was preoccupied with how cute the human was in his oversized suit jacket. He shrugged, tilting his head to the side as he looked at him.

It was a new experience for the Slenderman not to get what he wanted. True, he'd never wanted much of anything and what he did want was easily accessible, but temperance was a new thing to him. He couldn't just come up into Conall's space if he wanted to look at him closely, and he couldn't make him put on anything he didn't want to wear. He couldn't really make Conall do anything he didn't want to, and he truly didn't want to force him either. He'd already figured out that he really, really liked when Conall did things on his own, like greeting him with a hug or leaving his jacket on.

The Slenderman no longer desired to push him about anything, though at the moment he was fixated on the messy little ponytail hanging against the back of his neck. Maybe he didn't want to pressure him into anything, but it didn't mean he couldn't pester him. Conall was busy looking out the window, so he reached forward and lightly batted his ponytail.

Conall used his finger to draw on the dusty glass window, creating two eye holes for him to look out of. "Yep, my friends and I would have had a ball up in here as kids—that is if we would have even made it up the stairs." He chuckled, and then reached back quickly when he felt his ponytail get batted. He took a step back away from the window and turned around to cock his head at the sitting Slender, "What?" Conall used his right hand to feel at his ponytail to see if there was something in it, he didn't doubt that this place was crawling with bugs.

The tall being looked off to the side innocently, ignoring the question. He hadn't intended to tease him as much as pester him, but if Conall hadn't realized it was him then so be it. He waited a moment until the young man turned back to look out the window before giving his hair a gentle tug.

Conall spun around and pointed an accusing finger at the Slender while squinting at him, "You.." He tried to look like he was mad, but ended up just giggling a bit as he lowered his hand. "Is there something wrong with my hair or what?" He lifted his hand up and pulled his messy pony tail out, raising his other hand to ruffle his dark locks.

He tilted his hair down and stroked some of his hair down to give himself bangs, then tried smoothing the rest of his hair down into a 'shaggy dog' hair style. "Better?" He pulled the hair band onto his wrist to wear it like a bracelet. His hair was still messy and many strands still stuck up, but it was a good look for him.

It wasn't obvious that the Slenderman was captivated; sitting still as a stone rather than leaning forward and coming closer as he usually did. He sat there dumbly, taking it all in. He'd only seen his hair down when it was wet. Now that it was dry, with waves falling on the sides of his face and fly-aways suspended in the air and the sun catching his eyes, and… he looked...

"Perfect human," he murmured.

Conall simply smiled and shook his head slightly at the compliment itself and not the structure of the compliment. "Far from perfect, but I'm glad you think so." He turned around after a moment of watching the slender, then began drawing things on the dusty window. When it came to esteem Conall didn't really have much of it, he had always been uncertain about himself as a child, and the teasing throughout school was enough to make him dislike himself. He'd like to say that he was perfectly fine and his school experience didn't bother him at all, but that wasn't the case. If he could get away with wearing a mask all day he'd do it.

Still, he tried not to dwell on that too much and preoccupied himself with reading and work. He came back from his thoughts to pay attention to what he was drawing, snorting a bit when he realized he'd drawn the Slender in a top hat. "I should totally buy you a top hat..You'd look dapper as hell."

Shaking his head out of the boy's line of sight, the Slenderman let it go. He reached forward to the glass beside Conall, drawing a picture of him. Slendermen were fundamentally poor artists, not having progressed past the cave painting style. But he did his best, drawing a face and wavy hair, and finishing it off with a top hat twice as tall as the one Conall had drawn on him.

He snickered lightly at their two silly drawings and took a step away from the window while yawning loudly. He had perked up a bit when the Slender first popped up, but now he was starting to get a bit groggy again. Saturday was his day to just lay around at home in bed, "May we…go back to my house now..? We can chill in my room and read some books or something..?" Conall unfolded the arms of the suit coat and pulled it off, turning to make his way over to the sitting slender with coat in hands. He stopped in front of him and draped it over the being's shoulders, then used both hands to squish Slend's cheeks.

"Do you even have a mouth?" Conall asked suddenly, leaning in close to squint at the area on Slend's face that would have a mouth. He stopped squishing his face to instead rub his thumbs lightly over the pale skin where lips would be, completely forgetting about the personal space rules they'd sort of set up. "Do you eat regular food or do you eat something else?" He didn't really expect to get an answer to all his questions, but he still wanted to get them out there.

He enjoyed Conall's curious hands, but the questions were numerous and without easy answers. "Something else," the Slenderman finally said, sort of answering his last question. He could technically eat human food for leisure, but his insides were an empty void and food couldn't cure his type of hunger. It wasn't something he felt necessary to explain.

His mouth was not something he wanted to share either, especially when Conall had nowhere to run. His mouth was one of his weapons, the final act when terrorizing his prey. He reached up and took Conall's hands, gently leading them off his face.

The gesture was nice, for him to return the coat now, but he had to take it off and put it back over Conall's shoulders again. The Slenderman's clothes were an extension of himself, and his coat was the only way to bring Conall along places. "It teleports you," he explained, holding both of his smaller hands in one of his own. He used the other to cover his eyes, and removed them as they stood in the boy's bedroom.

He patted Conall's shoulder and took back his coat, slipping it on and buttoning it.

"Something else—Right." He wasn't exactly pleased with the answer, but he simply nodded in reply, and then shrugged once his hands were removed. Conall gave a slight nod at the whole 'it teleports you' sentence after the coat was draped over him once more, deciding he wasn't even going to try to think about it. Some things were easier to just accept and not think about, this being's very existence was once of those things, his clothing was now the second thing.

When Slend removed his hand and took his coat back, Conall kicked off his shoes , and then tossed them over to the door. "Thank you~" He hummed, pulling his hoodie off of his body, his long sleeve shirt accidentally getting pulled off along with it. He adjusted the sleeveless shirt that had managed to stay on his body, sitting down on his bed while he separated his hoodie, and long sleeve shirt. "When winter comes along I'll probably move down to sleep in the guest room, because the attic gets pretty cold." He explained.

Peeling his gaze off Conall's bare skin, the Slenderman nodded in acknowledgment. He decided to take off his shoes as well, standing in the corner and slipping out of them. He went to the desk and took the book he hadn't finished, and brought it over to the bed. He made himself comfortable sitting up against the headboard, but continued to watch Conall rather than actually read.

He was considering the small possibility of showing Conall his mouth, but the thought still filled him with dread. Something inside of him told him that answers, maybe even unsettling answers, would help put the human at ease with him. He turned down to the book as he thought it over.

Conall separated the two clothing items and immediately slipped his shirt back on and lay back on the bed with his legs hanging off. "You've got good taste in books." He chuckled after laying there for a minute or two with his eyes closed, opening one to look at the slender out of the corner of his eye. He smiled a little before he sighed and closed his eye once more, folding his arms behind his head. He considered a few things he could say, or a few of the books he could reread while hanging out with the being, but he made no moves to do anything. Maybe it was best to just enjoy the silence instead of trying to fill it with talk.

He rolled onto his side facing Slend and rested his head on his still folded arm, the other folded across his chest. He simply watched his odd friend, letting his eyes study the male before him. "…Hey…are you really a male or are you like genderless?" He asked, tone quiet now.

The Slenderman raised his head. The question was fair enough from a curious human, but why did he want to know? "Male," he said simply. At least, for once, he could give him a straight answer.

He nodded slightly and casually rolled along the length of his bed till he bumped into Slend's legs, reaching between the being's legs to grab the pillow that he was sitting on. He gave it a good tug and ripped it from under him, tossed it to the end of the bed, then laid down on it with his feet rested on Slend's legs. Conall once again folded his arms behind his head and then folded one leg over the other, "Mmkay.."

The being stared at his legs, and at the human's legs draped over them. His vision trailed up him and over his stomach and the small hint of skin showing above his waist band. And then his arms stretched up behind him. He glanced up at the ceiling; briefly feeling like some higher force was testing him, or just trying to make him suffer. His legs shifted a little just to feel the weight of the other's. Yes, it was happening. And if it was a test after all, he was failing.

"Conall… come here."

Conall considered complaining about the fact that he'd just gotten comfortable on the bed, but instead he just groaned and sat back up. He crawled over and sat down on his knees next to the being, lifting his hands up quickly to brush his hair back, resting his hands back on his lap. "What's up?" He hummed, tilting his head to the side.

With his attention, the Slenderman sat up a little better. He raised a finger and tapped on his empty 'mouth region' before dropping his hand again. He hoped that might prepare him for what he was about to do. It took a moment for him to muster the courage.

A small, dark, horizontal line appeared in the center, and began to grow on either side. The lines fell and sharply rose symmetrically, creating a jagged line like an unsteady pulse. He tried to keep his mouth small this time, not ear-to-ear-wide as he could do in the peak of terrifying glory. He leaned a little closer to Conall, letting his long, tapered tongue slip from his mouth and lightly flick the human's nose. He closed his mouth and hid it completely, leaning back to wait for a reaction.

He wasn't quite sure what the being was getting at when he tapped his face like that, but quickly caught on when something 'crazy' started to happen. He could only stare as the once featureless face grew a mouth, course at this point he was amazed that he could even be surprised at this point. This whole situation was farfetched enough and he really needed to learn to just go with the flow at this point.

Conall blinked Slend's tongue flicked him on the nose, then retreated back into the wicked mouth it'd snaked from. He stayed silent for a moment while digesting what he'd just seen, then pursed his lips slightly as he began to nod. "That was fuckin awesome. I didn't think you could get any cooler at this point, but I was dead wrong." He said, looking completely pleased with this new information.

The Slenderman felt his whole body relax. He leaned forward again, a little excited to be able to share with Conall. His mouth slipped into existence again, a smug, jagged smile appearing. And before he could stop himself, in one quick motion, he licked the human's lips.

He didn't really see why Slend didn't want to show off his mouth before this, but he guessed that it could be considered scary. "I'll admit that if you would have done that like..a few weeks ago, I probably would have lost it, but I trust you now, so it's okay." Conall patted him on the thigh to reassure him that he wasn't going to get scared off by him. He was going to say something else, but was caught off guard by the others tongue against his lips. He wasn't entirely sure what to think of the gesture, so he chose to disregard it for the most part. "That tongue of yours is insane." He chuckled, choosing not to wipe of his lips because he didn't want to seem rude. "Can you make it as long as you want like those tentacles that come out of your back, or can it only go a certain length?" He hummed, sitting up on his knees as he leaned in to get a closer look as his mouth as a whole.

The Slenderman ignored the question, too preoccupied with how close he was leaning. Yes, this had to be some sort of divine torture.

He'd kept himself thoroughly in check in the tree house where Conall had to rely on him to leave. But in the human's territory it would be easy for him to order the being out if he felt uncomfortable. Of course, he didn't want it to come to that.

He tried to make sense of Conall's behavior. He was completely at ease with him here, pressed into his personal space with a steady heartbeat. He had to be oblivious of it, otherwise he would have acted or recoiled from the Slenderman. He thought back on the tree house, and Conall dismissing his complement. Was he oblivious because he couldn't believe it? Surely not. Conall was a beautiful human. But who knew? Humans were complex.

He began lose focus as Conall leaned in, close enough for the being to feel his warm breath and the smell of the soap on his skin. Forgetting his train of thought, he brought his hand up to rest on the young man's back. Kissing was not possible for him, but he leaned in as if to do so, close enough that Conall's nose touched his face. He pressed forward and licked his mouth again, a little slower than before. This time he didn't pull away, instead waiting for Conall to end it if he chose.

At the age of 18, Conall had figured that he had never really been good at realizing that someone was attracted to him. He'd spent plenty of time doing the whole 'What if' and 'If I had' scenarios in his head, but when he got a chance to do anything he just chickened out. So many thoughts went through his head in that brief moment.

His eyes widened and he leaned back a few inches to stare at Slend's face, mouth parting slightly as if he was going to say something, but instead leaned back in. Conall rested his forehead against the other's and closed his eyes, heart pounding in his chest, but he kept calm on the outside. "Why?" He managed in a shaky voice, reaching his arms up to wrap them around the being's neck in sort of a hug. "Why do you like me?" That was the main thing he wanted to know, he needed to know, before he decided his next move. He did like the being more than he probably should at this point, but he didn't get why this supernatural being would choose to care about him, and not someone else. Conall prayed that his reaction wouldn't cause the Slenderman to leave like he usually did. His arms tightened just a bit and he pressed his body in just a bit closer, hoping to keep the being from leaving, or at least this would make his escape from the bed more difficult.

Worry swept over him as the Slenderman heard the anguish in Conall's voice. He wrapped his arms around the human, pulling him against him. In that question, he discovered something he had been overlooking. Conall was, perhaps, not as confident as he imagined.

He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to think of what to say. How could he say all that he wanted to in as little words as he preferred? Why did he like him? "…Why wouldn't I?"

He opened his eyes and suddenly wished the slender made some kind of expressions that he could read, it was pretty hard figuring out how the being felt. "…Heh..Don't answer my questions with a question." Conall huffed and placed a light kiss on the Slend's forehead, grumbling out a few incoherent things afterwards while blushing. "I should just accept that you care, huh? Especially since I don't think don't I'm going to get any answers out of you." He turned his head away for a moment, then looked back to bump their foreheads together once more.

An idiot could tell that Conall was unsatisfied, and the Slenderman felt bad about his answer. He felt like a foreigner, stubbornly refusing a new language, but Conall needed this and he could provide it if he stopped resisting.

"Sorry…" he breathed. He cleared his throat and tried to focus on arranging his voice memories for something more complicated. "Before you… I hadn't spoken in… years. Slendermen don't, usually." He stopped, figuring Conall could piece it together.

He shifted his arms around the young man's waist. "I like… that you…" he remembered coming face to face with Conall in the aging house and his voice before running away, "…that you were brave enough to speak to me." He thought of earlier today and the human's arms around him when he returned. "…that you… missed me." He remembered back farther, cornering him with only a towel around his hips. "…that you challenge me." He remembered Conall's wet hair and how he let a monster go ahead and ease his curiosity and touch it, but he kept that to himself.

The Slenderman took a strand of his hair and let it slide through his fingers. "I like this." He touched Conall's face, trailing along his patterned skin. He slid his thumb along his bottom lip. He listened to his heart pumping. "…You."

Feeling embarrassed he shrugged a shoulder, looking around at things other than the human in front of him.

Conall listened and as the Slender being went on he felt his face growing warm with a blush, even more so when the being's hand trailed along his face. He wanted to tell the being to just shut up, hearing the reasons why Slend felt for him was more than embarrassing, but he let the other finish. He was even surprised by how much he was speaking. "Heh.." He unwrapped his arms from around Slend once he finished speaking and hid his face against the being's long neck, placing a chaste kiss where his jugular would be. "I like you too…I like you a lot and thank you for telling me why you care. _It means a lot to me_." He whispered the last part and simply hid his face, breathing lightly against the other's skin.

The Slenderman held him, gently stroking his back and basking in the moment. He felt like he'd said enough for the next decade, but it was well worth it. Now he was here, warmed by Conall's body heat and serenaded by his heartbeat.

A jagged smirk spread over his empty face as he felt Conall against his neck. He found it humorous that he'd so adamantly wanted to hear the truth and then hid from it. He started to get a wicked feeling like he wanted to see him embarrassed more, and put together his options. He put a hand behind Conall's closer knee, and the other on his side, encouraging him to swing his leg over to sit on him, though he wasn't sure if the human would follow along.

Conall nuzzled into the Slenderman's neck for a moment longer, resisting the being's request for a moment before he gave in. He placed both hands on the other's shoulders and straddled his lap, settling down after a moment. Sitting on someone's lap wasn't something he was really accustom too and the fact that he was blushing from ear to ear probably made it obvious that he was embarrassed. The young man was having a hard time remembering the most recent time he'd felt so embarrassed, and this was probably the most recent. He removed his hands from the other's shoulders while eyeing the smile that was on his face, "I bet you're enjoying my embarrassment." Conall shook his head and laughed lightly, wondering what he could possibly do to embarrass the Slender he was currently sitting on.

The Slenderman shrugged, but his persistent grin gave him away. He'd never needed to practice a poker face when he could just make everything vanish.

Conall's face was very flushed now, and the Slenderman liked it far too much. "Cute," he murmured, brushing a pale thumb over one of his cheeks. His skin was especially warm, and the Slenderman leaned forward and nuzzled him to feel it.

His hands slid down, one resting on the human's back and the other trailing down his side until he reached his leg, just above the knee. It was becoming increasingly difficult to resist just running his hands all over him.

Conall closed his eyes slowly and leaned up into the Slender's nuzzling, "You're way cuter." He hummed his reply, enjoying the whole situation more than he probably should be. He opened his eyes again and silently wished the being had a mouth that he could kiss, but maybe it was for the best because he wasn't the best kisser. 'Maybe I could kiss his tongue? Or would that be weird?' He pondered, tilting his head to the side to kiss along the being's jaw line. Con didn't mind Slend's hands on him at all and considered encouraging him to touch him more, but he resisted.

A soft growl escaped him as he felt Conall's mouth on his jaw. His hands flew to his thighs, holding him tightly and willing himself not to grind up against the human. But he did raise his knees, pushing Conall's hips forward against him.

He brought a hand up to Conall's face, turning his head so his lips brushed his face where a human's mouth would be. "Here, please."

He sucked in a breath when his hips pressed against the Slender's, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment to focus on keeping his breathing even, opening them when his head was turned. "Mhmm.." Conall slid his hands down from the being's shoulders, over his chest, and then settled on his sides to grip his suit coat. He placed a few light kisses on his 'lips' before his tongue slipped out to lick the skin lightly, rolling his hips into the Slender's to get the friction he was craving.

The Slenderman's chest felt tight as the human lay kisses on him. Oh, what he would give to return them. His hands trembled as he felt Conall's tongue slide against his mouth, and he jumped at the feeling of his hips curving down against him. He began to growl again, longer and slower and deeper, unable to stop himself. He rocked upward, hands slipping up the back of Conall's shirt and over his heated skin.

His mouth parted just enough for his tongue to slip out, sliding against Conall's bottom lip and pressing against his teeth.

Conall didn't really know how to respond to the growling, so he chose to ignore it, and just hope that he wasn't doing something wrong. He began to get lightheaded the more turned on his became from this whole thing; the Slender's rocking wasn't helping either, nor were the thoughts of sex that were going through his head. His mouth opened and licked along the being's tongue, breathing becoming more uneven with each rock of his hips.

The Slenderman wrapped his arms fully around Conall's waist, lifting him and pushing him back against the bed. The mattress let out a slow creak as they repositioned, the Slenderman resting on his elbows with Conall lying between them. He looked too good like this, with his hair splayed out against the blanket.

The being continued to rock his hips as he explored Conall's neck. The jagged ends of his mouth carefully brushed against the human's skin, tongue slipping down his shirt and then sliding up to his jaw, feeling his pulse pound against it. He backed downward, face nuzzling against his shirt and down to his stomach, pausing at his belt. The Slenderman's tongue dropped down and curled around it, blatantly showing off his dexterity. He looked up at Conall with a grin, waiting to see if he'd give him permission to continue.

Conall's hands grabbed handfuls of the sheets on either side of his body, only really able to just gasp, and arched up into the Slender in need. He lifted his head up and watched as the being nuzzled his way down to his pants where he showed off that impressive tongue of his. "Holy shit." Was all he managed to say, head practically spinning from the little show he was getting, and all the being had done was wrap it around his belt.

He blinked when his ears picked up the sound of a muffled ring tone coming from his hoodie that had somehow ended up on the floor. He recognized the ringtone 'Fly Me To The Moon' as his grandfather and bit his bottom lip, really not wanting to stop the slender, but he had to. "S-sorry." He muttered and nudged the being's face enough for him to wiggle out from him, and then off the bed to fetch his phone. "Hello?" He practically squeaked once he answered the phone, then cleared his throat, trying to sound as calm as he could.

Realizing he was practically crouched like an animal, the Slenderman rearranged himself into a more respectable upright and sitting position. He was relatively still on the outside, but his internal energy was buzzing viciously. In the pit of his insides he worried that there wouldn't be another opportunity to become intimate with Conall. He could very well think it over and decide it was too much for him, and the Slenderman wouldn't be able to blame him either. He already found it remarkable that a human was willing to accept his mere presence.

He listened in on Conall's conversation, which involved an errand run including prescriptions and donuts. The Slenderman remembered seeing the small shopping unit in town where the drug store and bakery were located, and knew it was too heavily populated for him to risk teleporting him. There would be trouble if they were spotted.

He hung up after his grandfather gave him a list of donuts that he wanted Conall to get, then turned to look at the Slender with an apologetic look. "Sorry about that.." He pulled his hoodie back over his head and placed his phone in his pants pocket before he stood to approach the bed. Conall rested one knee on the bed and leaned in to place a kiss on the being's lips, "But I gotta go, uh, we can continue another time? If you're still up to it that is." He pulled back with a sheepish grin on his face, shoulders shrugging slightly as he backed off in the direction of his shoes.

The thought of having to see David at the store definitely killed any lingering arousal and had his stomach in knots. He usually went out of his way just to avoid the guy, but it was pretty much impossible in a town like this. Conall slipped on his boots slowly, not looking forward to getting donuts at all, "I guess you can't really come with me, so I'll see you when I get back?"

The Slenderman tried to listen to everything, but he was distracted by an odd taste in his mouth. It wasn't at all in the sense of 'fearing for one's life,' but Conall was really dreading something. And it was so strange, since Conall seemed to be acting fine, for the most part. He was curious, but if Conall didn't want to share, then the being wanted to resist asking.

He stood up and approached Conall who was nearly at the door, and brushed his fingers through his hair to tame it. "I'll be here."

To be Continued


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

He watched him go, having no intention of staying put. Conall began down the driveway and along the sidewalk, and the Slenderman travelled through the woods beside him. After a while they had reached town, and buildings began to appear between the woods and the road. The Slenderman carefully moved behind the buildings, but could see less and less of Conall as the area became more populated. A woman came out back from one of the restaurants and he had to back into a shadow to avoid being seen.

He waited out behind the Pharmacy as Conall went in, and then followed him to the Bakery when he continued to feel bad vibes wafting from his human. But the building had no way to look in, a brick structure with a solid metal door in the back and glass front windows that were exposed to everyone walking along the street. The Slenderman walked off and around a nearby building and watched across the parking lot, but the angle left him unable to see much of anything.

Conall retrieved his grandfather's prescription first before he sort of just lollygagged around the aisles, trying to gather up the courage to make his way back to the bakery. He didn't want to deal with that cake making fucker, but he knew his grandpa would tell him to just suck it up, so that's what he did. He pulled his hood over his head as he approached the bakery area in the back of the store, wincing slightly at the sight of the taller brunette who had a smug grin on his face. "Hey Cow boy. Your grandpa want his usual donuts?" David hummed, standing there with his arms folded on the edge of the glass display.

He gave a slight nod and kept his head down to avoid looking at the male, pretty much hiding under his hood while David went to picking out donuts, placing them in a paper bed.

The Slenderman fidgeted restlessly, not used to being unable to see something he was curious about. He straightened up when he saw Conall leaving the bakery, and hurried around the shopping center to catch up with him. Conall's pace was quick and his hands were buried in his sweatshirt pockets. The Slenderman caught up and began walking beside him, head turned down to see beyond Conall's raised hood.

"Conall?"

He lowered his head more than it already was to avoid letting the Slender see his face beneath his hood. He should have expected the being to follow him, considering that was something Slendermen tended to do, but of course he hadn't. "Yeah?" Conall raised his arm and wiped it across his face quickly, wiping away most of the tears that were on his face. The young man rarely let people see him cry or just be sad in general, so letting Slend see him was embarrassing, but he lifted his head to look up at the taller being. "I got a few extra donuts in case you want to try one." Con forced the smile and held back whatever tears that wanted to come. He wasn't going to cry in front of Slend, there was no way he was going to.

Straightening up with shock, the Slenderman bit back his anger. He desperately wanted to know who did what and plan out an appropriate form of retaliation. But Conall's smile softened him and he was left feeling sad and helpless.

He reached out and took the bag of donuts from Conall so he didn't have to carry anything, and held his hand tightly as they walked.

Conall was a little relieved that the being didn't try to drill him about why he was all weepy, and appreciated the hand holding as well. It was a sweet and comforting gesture, but he still felt like crying and ended up letting a few tears slip out while they were walking. The young man would be happy if he could just forget about all the times he'd been made fun of, bullied, and teased about his skin during school, but the people like David were making it hard. It was infuriating that such dumb words could break him down like this and it suddenly made him wish he could just run away from this wretched place forever. He would have left years ago, but he didn't want to leave his aging grandfather alone in the house, so he stayed to look out for him.

He rubbed his eyes to rid him of his tears, mentally telling himself to just suck it up, and get over his problems. Sadly, this tactic never seemed to work very well.

The Slenderman considered teleporting him home, but wondered if the walk and cool air had therapeutic qualities. There was also his grandfather who would likely expect his return through the front door rather than coming down the stairs.

They reached the front steps and the Slenderman squeezed his hand before releasing him. He returned the bag and in a blink he was gone, upstairs in the bedroom for whenever the human came up.

Once inside the house, Conall took his time while he was on the first floor with his grandpa, hiding under his hood till he was sure he wouldn't cry anymore. He went to making himself a cup of hot chocolate to drink while eating his donuts, mainly staying in the kitchen while he waited for the water in the teapot to heat up. He considered making a cup for Slend, but decided he'd let the being take a sip from his cup just to see if he even liked it hot chocolate.

After a short period of time, he made his way up the stairs with a cup of hot coco in one hand, and a plate with two donuts in his other hand. Con entered the attic after struggling with the handle for a moment, "Do you like hot chocolate?" He asked, looking up from the mug in his hand to take a look at the Slender, hood pulled back and no longer hiding his face.

Being an immortal should have taught him something about patience, but the Slenderman still paced about the room waiting for Conall to come in. He'd taken his shoes off and tried to read, but ended up tossing the book on the floor and pacing again. In his brooding he thought about returning to the bakery and scope the place out to see what was going on, but he didn't want to be gone if Conall came up quickly.

So he was at full attention when he finally came in. The sudden question caught him off guard and he looked down at the items silently. Finally he shrugged, not having been exposed to human consumables in a while. It was just nice that Conall had stopped crying, though he still wondered what had happened. He tilted his head as he watched him.

Conall made his way across the room, floor creaking with each step her took, then came to a stop to set the cup and donuts on separate stacks of books ontop of his desk. "Want to try it? If you like it I'll go make you a cup of your own." He stepped away from the desk and pulled his hoodie off to toss it onto the bed. He didn't really want to talk about the whole crying thing, but he doubted the Slender would let it go, but maybe if he just kept talking the being wouldn't get a chance to ask. "What about donuts?" He hummed, picking up the cup once more, still waiting to know if Slend wanted a taste of the chocolate.

The Slenderman approached him. He touched the back of his neck and stooped down, bumping foreheads with the human in an effort to show his support. He had a feeling he'd have to wait for freely-given answers, so he decided to let it go for now.

He raised up the drink and began to extend his tongue toward it, but paused before it touched. He quickly hid it again, his now visible mouth turned down awkwardly with embarrassment. He'd never really been too good at drinking things, not with a lipless, zig-zag mouth. When he was desperate enough he would taste something with a lick, but he knew better than to stick his tongue into someone else's drink. He stared down at the drink and flexed his mouth, making a sort of pouting expression as he tried to straighten it out. In the past he truly hadn't given a stick about drinking, but if Conall was offering him a sip he was going to…

He sipped the drink, mouth forced into a normal line for a single moment before it turned back to its usual shape. He curled his tongue around the melted chocolate in his mouth, utterly pleased as he swallowed. His mouth turned up into a goofy grin.

Conall closed his eyes and let out a light sigh while they bumped foreheads, enjoying the feel of Slend's cool skin on his forehead, opening his eyes once more. "Thanks, Slend." He murmured quietly, using a name he'd thought up a few days ago. He appreciated the act a lot, but he really didn't want to walk about his issues just yet, so the being would just have to be patient.

He chuckled a bit when the Slender caught himself before he stuck that tongue of his right into the cup, "Thank you." He smiled and watched at the being took another try at drinking. He watched with interest when Slend evened out his mouth just to take a drink, and then cocked his head to the side when his teeth returned to their jagged state. Con couldn't help but wonder how many parts of his body he could manipulate, but decided he'd ask such things at a later time. "I'll go get you a cup of your own." He nodded and took the cup back to set it back on his desk, leaving the room quickly to get the other a cup of hot chocolate as well.

He returned after a few minutes with another cup in hand, holding it out to the being as he approached. "Here you go.."

While waiting, the Slenderman had taken up Conall's drink in an attempt to keep it warm in his hands, but having a body temperature that changed with the surrounding air temperature didn't help it much. But the mug itself seemed to retain the heat until Conall returned, and he gave him back his drink as he was offered the other.

He stared at the human for a moment as he took a seat at the desk, contemplating the day before he leaned against the desk and looked out the window. There was nothing out there he hadn't seen before, but he was starting to get the feeling that humans didn't love being excessively watched. He dipped his tongue into the mug of coco, and then tried again to practice drinking with his mouth. It took work, but he supposed it was manageable. He looked at the drink, enjoying how it warmed him inside.

Setting it on the bedside table, he made himself comfortable and trailed a tentacle over to the desk to snag one of the donuts. There were two of one type so he took one of those, one with powder instead of frosting, and no hole. Bringing it to his hand and holding it up, he took a bite. Yes, biting was something he could do effortlessly, and the taste was fantastic. He leaned back as he chewed, staring up at the human food and the red, sweet 'gel' inside. Wow.

Conall took the remaining donut for himself and relaxed back into his old chair, mind briefly wondering how much longer he had till the wooden chair would break. He idly watched the Slender enjoy his donut and coco, barely looking down at his own things while he ate, and drank. He kept up the silence for about a minute longer before he felt the need to speak up again.

"What are we? I mean, are we friends or are we dating or…are we friends who just happen to make out sometimes?" Con set the remainder of his donut down, but kept his mug in hand.

The Slenderman had eaten rather quickly, and was licking the powder off his fingers when Conall asked. Was this what Conall was thinking about now? He sat up slowly, thinking it over.

He had never been in the position of having a label between himself and a human other than one; the hunter and the prey. But this? This was more complex. But he knew what he wanted, he just had to explain… somehow.

"Friends, I like…" He continued, quoting in Conall's voice. "Friends who just happen to make out sometimes' …I do not like. Intimately… I do not presume that you are mine. But I am yours."

He raised the mug to his lips and sipped while listening to Slend answer his question, though he did have a little trouble understanding. "So you don't agree with the making out thing, but you do agree with being friends..? But you are mine in an intimate way? So.." He paused for a moment, just trying to understand, "Dating?" He raised his eyebrow and set the mug back down on the desk.

"Uh..Dating is like…being in a relationship with someone that you like or care about in a way that's more than just friendship. It's more intimate than just being friends." He explained as best as he could to the other male just in case he didn't know what dating was, considering he hadn't said anything about it. "Sorry—I'm not very good at explaining things."

The Slenderman nodded once. A few years back, on a playground when he had terrified a boy until he couldn't move, a fearless little girl had run up to them and shaken him to his senses. The Slenderman was left to watch them run away hand in hand. After that, he had always seen friendship as something beautiful. If dating was more intimate than friendship, then it was something he would want.

His legs swung off the bed until he was sitting up, long fingers laced together on his lap. "You would like… dating with me?" Trying to understand it further he added, "This is common? Are you dating with your friends too?"

Conall covered his face while smiling and shaking a bit from silent laughter, 'He's so cute.' He thought, lowering his hands once he was sure he wasn't going to slip into some sort of giggle fit. "No, I'm not dating my friends." His hands flew up to cover his face and he hunched over, entire body shaking once more, this time it was from the thought of dating one of those druggy idiots. "N-No.." He heaved, correcting himself in the chair once more. "I like my friends, but I would not date them. I would like to date you, so I could hold your hand, lay on you, hug you, kiss you, and whatever else you're comfortable with. You don't do that kind of stuff with friends." Con chuckled, not even bothering to get into the whole 'friends with benefits' thing.

The Slenderman rested his knuckle on his face where his mouth would be, listening closely at what it meant to be in a relationship. It seemed that most of the things he'd mentioned were things they had already done. He realized with interest how little he really knew about human interactions, and wondered how many other things he did that had meanings he didn't know about.

But it was good, now. He could have done things that meant something undesirable, but it wasn't the case here and he was glad of it. And Conall liked what they'd done enough to date him, liked /him/ enough. He looked at the human, cocking his head to the side. Conall definitely didn't put up with anything from him he didn't like, and he was brave and funny and so cute now with all that laughing. Oh, he was so lucky.

He left the bed and came closer, kneeling on the floor since Conall barely reached his legs when sitting. Something about personal space flicked across his mind and was dismissed as he grabbed the human around the waist and pulled him off the chair into his arms. He stood up, lifting Conall up to the same height, nearly to at the height of the ceiling rafters. He had a broad, jagged grin across his face that he couldn't fight back.

Conall let out a light chuckle as he was lifted up by Slend, eyes glancing away from the being's face to see what it was like to be so tall. He definitely admired how graceful the being was with such long limbs, "The view up here is nice." He hummed, glancing around his room before he returned his attention to his grinning boyfriend. Con took a moment to hook his legs around the being's body, so he wasn't just hanging there. He stared at his smiling face once his legs were securely around Slend, then glanced around before he decided to do something silly. He brought both of his hands up enough to press them to either side of Slend's face, making an attempt to squish his cheeks.

The Slenderman barely noticed his face being played with, entirely distracted by the legs wrapped around him. How could Conall just /do/ that and not bat an eye? Slowly his focus shifted back to his own face, and the cute grin Conall was wearing. But he wasn't just going to let the human get away with teasing him and prodding him, especially up here where he couldn't escape. He let out a devious growl, hands moving to hold him up by his backside, and not failing to give it a squeeze.

He kept himself pretty composed while Slend was busy copping a feel on his derrière, though his upper body leaned back a few inches, and his eyes widening just a bit. That was better than making some kind of embarrassing vocalization, like squealing, or something along those lines. His hands went from squishing the being's cheeks to pulling on them, his own smile turning into a light smirk. "Having fun squeezing my ass?" He chuckled, waggling his eyebrows as his smirk grew wider.

The Slenderman nodded, taking some of Conall's voice to reply. "Having fun squeezing my face?"

He quit holding him that way, moving to hold him under his thigh and against his back. At the same time he tried to shake his head out of Conall's grip, but he had him good. So he opened his mouth and let his tongue slither out, wet and slippery as it curled between Conall's fingers. Hopefully it would be off-putting enough to deter him.

"Yes, I'm having a ball with your face. I don't normally get to be so close to it, so I'm taking full advantage of being up here." He snickered, then frowned slightly when the being's tongue slipped out of his jagged mouth.

"Blehh." He pulled both hands back, but quickly went back in with his already slimy hand, and grabbed his long tongue. Conall kept a steely grip on the slimy muscle, "This tongue of yours is crazy." Con let go of it after a minute and stuck out his own tongue in disgust, his hand now completely wet.

Instead of wiping it right it Slend's face like he wanted to do, he simply wiped his hand off on his pants leg, "Bleh."He repeated for good measure.

With amusement the Slenderman watched Conall grab hold of his tongue and deeply regret it, and decided it wouldn't be the last time he would taunt him with it.

He looked around, wondering how he could make use of Conall's interest in their current height, and finally considered the rafters. He brought Conall over to one and lifted him up to sit on it. He released his tentacles and kept his hands on the human's leg, leaving no chance of him falling off.

Conall smoothed his hands slowly over Slend's scalp, silently enjoying the texture of the pale skin. "I'm glad I met you. Heh heh..Not many people get to say they have a cool monster boyfriend," He paused for a second before continuing, "Not that I'd tell anyone about you." He leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to the being's cheek. "Not that anyone would believe me."

Listening to his musings, the Slenderman wondered if anyone would believe him if he told them. He didn't really care either way if Conall felt the need to tell another person or two, as long as his existence wasn't broadcasted far and wide. But he didn't share this with Conall, not deeming it necessary. If it came to it, maybe he'd share. But the whole matter was of little importance to him at the moment. He was content with spending the afternoon with Conall and not worrying about anything else.

Getting to spend such a long amount of time with the Slender had been surprisingly pleasant, considering the fact that Conall could barely take spending an hour with his friends. Maybe it was the fact that Slend was much more proper, albeit very careless when it comes to returning items to their respectable positions. He didn't mind things like that, though, who didn't like wearing their clothes after having them scattered across the floor?

The young man opened his eyes slowly and took a cursory look around the room, spotting the Slender sitting there at his desk. He closed his eyes once more and brought both hands up to rub at his face and eyes, then proceeded to stretch out on the bed. He moaned lightly and relaxed back onto the bed once he finished his routine morning stretch, then took another look over at the Slender sitting in his wooden chair at his pathetic excuse for a desk. "Good morning." He greeted and yawned a bit, rolling onto his stomach to stretch a bit more. "Still staring out the window, huh?" Conall wrapped his arms around his pillow and nuzzled his face into it like he was about to go back to sleep.

He had taken notice of how much Slend had been looking out the window, maybe he was getting tired of being inside the house? Con would understand if he wanted to leave for some amount of time, but maybe the being didn't realize that. He pushed up into a sitting position and looked around with a sleepy expression, brown locks sticking out in every direction in that classic 'bed head' look.

He needed to feed. Staring out at the woods, the Slenderman could feel hunger pangs, a strange tenseness that coursed through him to his fingers and toes. And his evening rests and even occasional sleep did little to cure his tiredness.

He looked over at his human, who looked sleepy and marvelous, peering up at him from behind a pillow. He leaned his head back a little as he looked at him, tangled in the blankets. The Slenderman had spent his first night resting beneath the bed at his own choosing. Under the bed was his favorite place to stay in all the times he'd stalked someone for extended periods. But after the lights were out, Conall had crept out of bed and curled up beside him on the cold wooden floor. The next night he tried to discourage the behavior, but once again Conall slept under the bed. After that he had decided it was better for them both to sleep in the bed where he could keep the human wrapped up and warm.

He looked back out the window as another pang of hunger distracted him, and decided it was time. He stood up and opened the window, turning to Conall. "Five days."

Conall sat there for a few seconds, drowsy mind working to figure out what on earth his boyfriend meant by 'Five days.' His eyes widened slightly with realization and quickly stumbled out of the bed, almost face planting when the covers attempted to sabotage him. He cursed a bit and freed his legs from his overly clingy covers, got back to his feet, and rushed over to hug Slend. "Okay." Con finally said hugging him tight, "I'll see you then." He grinned wide and pulled back to let him go do whatever it was that he needed to do.

The Slenderman had been worried that Conall might be unhappy with his leaving, but the response left him feeling warm and relieved. He bent down and laced his fingers with Conall's, nuzzling his messy morning hair. He caught an up-close look at his eyes, rich brown with dark lashes, and that charming hint of sleepiness he saw each morning.

He pulled away and slipped out the window, dropping lightly down to the grass and heading into the woods. He could feel himself growing hungrier at the prospect of feeding soon, but he also could feel that he'd never so strongly looked forward to returning to a place again.

Conall sighed a little once the Slender had gone and immediately went back to his bed to lay around in it for as long as he could.

His day continued on at its regular pace, got out of bed, took a shower, crammed some food down his throat, and then went to work at the library. While he was on break outside, his druggy friend who went by the name of "Jess", decided to call him up to see if he'd go to the house with him once Con was off work. "You know I get off at night, right?" Conall hummed, leaning back on the entrance stairs while he sat there, looking up at the cloudy sky. "I know, Conny, but Fred is sick…so he can't go. I left so, uh, stuff at house and REALLY need to go get it. So please, please, pleeeeease go with me?" Fred practically begged from the other end of the line, making Conall sigh loudly as a result. "Whatever, man. Just meet me at the usual spot and we'll go. I'll bring a flashlight."

He ended the call before Jess could say anymore and relaxed there on the stairs for a bit long before he had to go back to work. Once he got out of the library he booked it back to his house, told his grandfather what he was doing, then fetched a flashlight to go join his friend in the forest. Well, he would have met him there if Jess had gone, but when Con went around into the backyard he discovered the taller male standing there. "Couldn't wait?" Con frowned, flicking on the flashlight since it was completely dark.

Jess shrugged his shoulders to get out of answering, "Just come on." He waved Con off and turned to trudged off into the woods, trying not to look too paranoid while they made their way through the woods.

In the woods, a second Slenderman stood watching from the darkness. While Conall's Slenderbeing wore a grey tie, this one wore a black one. He straightened it around his neck and followed the humans before they went too far ahead.

Black Tie was not close to his destination and hadn't planned on stopping, but the temptation was too great when he saw the blonde walking alone down the street on the edge of the woods. While most Slendermen fed on a wide range of humans, there were some who were more selective. This one in particular liked them at the start of adulthood, cocky and overconfident, as he saw it. Yes, those were the ones he liked to bring trembling to their knees. Looking up at the moon, he knew he had enough days not to feel rushed. Black Tie followed the human at a rather close distance, keeping to the shadows but walking close enough for him to feel a strange prickling on the back of his neck. The young man turned back a few times and saw nothing, but began walking a little faster.

He continued to follow him, enjoying the faint taste of fear. But upon meeting up with another his age, the fear vanished. The creature bit back his disappointment as he studied the second, a smaller human with his hands in his pockets. The creature moved closer, studying the new one. He didn't seem quite so cocky, but he was sure that scaring the calmness off his face would be satisfying enough. It was a pretty face after all.

He followed them into the woods, tuning out their banter as they made their way to an old looking, likely abandoned house. Only once did the blonde turn around and shine the flashlight back his way, just a bit of paranoia staying with him from before. Black Tie stepped behind a tree until the flashlight turned ahead again and they went into the house.

"So where have you been these days?" Jess asked, flashlight moving around as he searched. He dug his hand in between the dusty couch cushions and pulled out the bag of goods he was looking for, stuffing it into his pocket without bothering to hide it from the other. "Find a new book you like better than us, or what?" He turned back to Conall, feeling infinitely better now that he had what he'd been messing. "Or have you gotten yourself a hot hubby who's keeping you busy?" he teased, laughing purely at the thought of Conall with anyone. He loved the guy, but figured it would be a long time before he grew the balls to find somebody. He looked around with the flashlight, wondering if he wanted to stay there to sample it or find somewhere else.

Conall found himself thinking about Slend for most of the trip through the woods, only breaking the thoughts to respond to Jess when he spoke. He did find himself glancing around every once in a while to make sure no one was following them, subconsciously hoping to catch sight of Slend. He shook his head slightly and made a mental note to ask the being about what on earth he did when he wasn't around.

He let out a sleepy yawn when they arrived at the house and made his way inside before Jess did, leaning up against the wall beside the door. "Sure that could have waited till morning.." he murmured and fought back the urge to yawn again, "Oh, " Con stood up a bit straighter when his brain registered the question, head tilting down in attempt to hide the sheepish grin that came over him, hunching his shoulders into a shrug. "I've found a few new mystery and romance books to read, so I've been spending my time reading those. The one I'm reading now has to do with, uh, a female that falls in love with this monster." He explained, pretty much lying out of his ass.

The young man's face went red at the last comment Jess made, thank goodness he didn't have the light shining on his face. "Psssssh, I wish." Was all he could really say, mainly because if he tried to say more he'd probably turn into a blubbering idiot.

Jess flicked the flashlight around, flashing past the window before he paused. Had he seen something? He pointed the flashlight at the window, but there was nothing there. His heart began to move just a little faster than before as he walked to the window, but there was still nothing there. Not that he could see much from this angle.

He turned to Conall, sure he was being stupid. "Yeah, you do wish. It's too bad the female isn't with you instead of the monster, maybe she'd get you out of the library more than me and Fred can. But for real, I don't know what you see in those romance nov-" He stopped short as he heard a light tap outside. And then another, with the faintest groan of someone standing on the wooden step outside the front door. He looked at Conall, eyes wide. "Did you hear that?" he whispered anxiously. "Con I think somebody's following me, I'm not even lying this time."

Outside the door, Black Tie rolled his tongue in his mouth as the blonde's heart worked a little harder. He took hold of the brass doorknob and turned it to one side, enjoying the low groan of rust on rust before turning it the other way. He wasn't ready to open it, instead relishing the spike in pulse.

"Holy shit!" Jess yelped, jumping back away from the door and darting from the stairs. "Conall, come on!" he shouted.

His hazel eyes tracked the taller friend towards the window, head tilting to the side slightly while observing his behavior. He shook his head at his and looked down at his own light, which was down cast on the floor.

Con had heard the taps outside and pushed off the door to step closer to Jess, "Yeah." He whispered right back in a calmer voice. He briefly wondered if it was Slend that was doing this, but surely he wouldn't do something as creepy as this? An eerie noise came from the door and Conall could barely react before the taller male disappeared out of his vision, and sped up the stairs. He turned and followed after the speedy blond, though he tried to be more careful while running through the old house.

"Calm down!" he called to Jess by the time he got to the top of the stairs. He was more concerned with reaching the frightened blonde than actually trying to see what was terrorizing them in the house. If it was indeed Slend, the being was going to get an ear full after this. Conall followed Jess into the bedroom he'd fled into and rushed over to him to see if he was alright.

Black Tie stepped through the front door as the second boy's heels disappeared up the top of the stairs. He took his time as he followed after. Standing in front of the bedroom door, he tried the knob. They'd locked it. But it was no problem. He stepped through the door and into the room, listening to the terrified gasp as he walked forward. Black Tie could hear them on the left and didn't look. Instead he walked to the far wall opposite of them and waited, listening to the heavy breaths and tasting the pure terror. But something was off. One of the humans was significantly less afraid than the other.

Jess gripped onto Conall's sweatshirt, staring wide-eyed at the creature's back. And it really had to be a 'creature' with those long, bony fingers and pointed nails, and the way it stooped over beneath the low ceiling. He watched it stand there, unmoving as it faced the wall. Finally breaking out of his terror, he glanced at the door for a second.

"We got to run," he whispered to Conall.

Well, this being definitely wasn't his Slend, but he still wasn't very frightened by this whole situation. The fact that he had his hunting knife also gave him some sense of security, though he knew it probably wouldn't do much good against this new Slender. He reached under the front of his shirt and pulled the blade out of its sheath, which was attached to his belt loops.

Conall gave a brief nod in agreement while holding his blade at the ready, turning his head to the side to look at his terrified friend. "I'm ready to bolt when you are." He whispered back just as quietly, knowing that the being was just toying with them at this point.

Black Tie kept his head to the wall, sensing them from across the room. The blonde had been so afraid that at this point the creature could have stopped now and been satisfied. But it was for the entertainment that he always lingered longer than he needed. Maybe he could get him to piss his pants and have to make up a lie for his mother when he went home. Or maybe he would tell the truth. That was always fun to listen to and to watch the reactions. Over the expanse of his existence he had left a legacy of tortured souls enough to fill an asylum.

The beast finally pulled himself out of his cloud of egotistical self-indulgence, just in time to hear the second boy whisper. That second boy with the two-toned skin… he couldn't remember another human so unafraid. He sensed his fear, yes, but there was no surprise in it, no 'fear of the unknown'.

The blonde bolted for the door and the creature whirled around, a tentacle whipping forward to catch him, but a small miscalculation sent the tentacle at his head, knocking him into the wall. He fell to the floor in front of the doorway and Black Tie turned to the other human.

He hadn't had to pull a smile out in a long time, but he figured it was time. His mouth split open into a grin and he teleported forward, slamming the brunette against the wall.

Conall felt Jess release his hold on his sweater before he bolted for the door, gripping the hilt of his knife tighter when he watched the blond get knocked down. This new being definitely wasn't as 'nice' as Slend had been the second time they met, but apparently they weren't all alike.

He tried to rush over to his laid out friend, but fear had somehow glued his feet to the floor, so all he could really do was stand there with surprised look on his face. His hazel eyes tore themselves from the blond in time to see the slender grinning at him, 'This cocky son of a bitch.' Was all Con could think before he found himself up against the wall, the back of his head throbbing from it hitting the wall. He opened his eyes when he realized he had them squeezed shut and glared up at the grinning being, emotions going from fear to just plain anger. "Wipe that dumb grin off your face."

Conall took this chance to jab the Slender being in the midsection, his eyes never left the other's face due to the desire to see what reaction it would have. Stabbing the guy probably wouldn't be a very smart thing to do, but at this point it didn't even matter.

The creature screeched, mouth gaping as the blade sunk into his stomach. Oh wow, did that hurt. He shoved his arm up against the human's throat to pin him while he attended to himself, looking down and pulling out the knife with a growl. Black blood spewed from the wound and onto the floor, but in a moment the cut was healed and the tear in his suit was gone.

Still, the area throbbed and he was livid. How dare a lowly human! How dare he?! He threw him to the floor and came down with him, pulling him up again by a handful of hair. He wrenched his neck to the side and bit down, pausing before he sunk his teeth in all the way. He could feel the life pumping through him, and knew that if he put it out he would suffer the consequences at the hand of his own kind. He pulled away and hit him before he stood. Blood began to seep from the human's nose, along with the streams of it trailing from the cuts on his neck.

He put a foot on the young man's stomach, pinning him. "Why fearless?" he croaked out. "Why… unsurprised?"

On some level, Conall had expected to be beaten up by this being, but being bitten wasn't something he truly expected to happen, though he probably should have. He winced and gritted his teeth together when he was pulled up by his hair, mouth opening wide to let out a pain filled scream when he was bitten. He balled his fists and punched futilely at any part of the Slender that he could reach, but ultimately ended up getting hit once more, and then ended up on the floor with a foot pinning him

He laid there for a moment in a bit of a daze before he focused on the being once more, "Why..?" he repeated in confusion before he played play what he'd just been asked. Con furrowed his eyebrows and scoffed up at him, "Wouldn't you like to know." He glared up at him; not caring if his words got him beat up more. This wouldn't be the first time he'd been beaten up and he doubted it'd be his last.

Black Tie bit back a hiss, staying silent instead. He smoothed out his face, cocking his head to the side as he looked at the bleeding mess under his foot. Nobody spoke to him like that, especially not a human. His tentacles unfurled, and one of them slithered over to the unconscious blonde, wrapping around his neck. Others made their way to join the first, curling around his throat and beginning to constrict like a python. The boy began to wheeze, struggling to breathe in his sleep.

The creature used his foot to turn Conall's head to the side, facing his friend, before pressing it back to his chest. "I would like to know, yes."

He tightened the coiling tentacles roughly, jerking the unconscious human a few inches into the air until his wheezing turned to coughs.

Conall's eyes widened at the sight of Jess being strangled by the being's tentacles, "O-okay, okay!" He grabbed onto Black Tie's ankle tightly, eyes never leaving the sight of his friend. "I—I, uh, have seen another one of your kind." He glanced away from Jess to look up at the faceless male, "The Slenderman is my good friend." Con explained, unsure if he should say that they were dating, or not. He didn't know if there were rules about interacting with humans, but if there were he didn't want to see Slend get in trouble because of him. "Now please let go of him! He can't breathe."

The creature stared down at the human, absolutely perplexed. He thought he was 'friends' with one of them? He would have deemed the boy mad or lying if he hadn't referred to them as they referred to each other. What a shocking concept, a Slenderman letting a human warm up to him. Just that the human knew what they were called was unsettling.

He released the unconscious boy, more out of disinterest than as a reply to the other's request.

There had to be a reason for this. What was the Slenderman in question trying to achieve? He studied him, trying to figure it out. Beneath the blood and messy hair, the human was still easy to look at. Maybe that was it. It wouldn't be the first time a Slenderman had found humans attractive, but Black Tie knew well enough why they didn't have their way with them. He knew the horrid, sickening taste that fear of defilement brought about. It was unbearable, and even though he himself wasn't opposed to them, he wouldn't be able to stand it. But coaxing one to be comfortable and willing? It certainly seemed like a lot of work just for a lay. He continued to look at the dark haired human. Hmm, maybe it would be worth it.

The creature spoke with a low, humored tone. "You let him fuck you?"

He stared up at the slender while the being seemed to think things over in his head, though it was hard to tell with the whole lack of a face. He released the others ankle and slowly brought his hand up to his aching face to wipe the blood from his face, he wasn't even going to try to touch his neck which seemed to be bleeding freely.

Conall paused in his wiping when the being spoke, his face going red seconds after he realized what he'd just heard. "No." He squeaked out, and then cleared his throat before he cleared his throat, which was rather painful. "NO!" Was the only thing he could really get out at the moment, still too surprised that this Slender would ask such a thing. "No way."

The beast cackled at the human's embarrassment. Well, he wasn't going to say anything to put a damper on the other Slenderbeing's pursuits. Though he supposed he'd already probably put a wrench in his plans. The human would be asking plenty of questions after this. Curious whose territory he was in, he decided to ask.

"His tie. Describe it."

He flinched under the being when he cackled, half expecting to get kicked or something, but was relieved when nothing bad happened. 'Relax' he thought to himself and squeezed his eyes shut, "Um…it's just gray..?" He opened his eyes slightly and glanced over in Jess' direction to see if he was alright, then closed them again. How was he going to get Jess home after this? How would he even explain to his grandfather the marks on his neck or the blood that was all over him now?

All humor was lost when the Slenderman in question was identified. Not in his wildest imagination could he picture the Gray maliciously seducing a human. No, this had to be something else. Whatever it was, he was sure now that if the other Slenderman saw what he was doing, there would be no easy apologizing.

The other Slenderman wasn't as tall as Black Tie, nor was he known for aggression, but he wasn't weak either. In a fight he imagined being the victor, but it might be possible for things to turn the other way if the other Slenderman was angry enough. The Grey was a deeply private creature, and Black Tie was standing dead center of his territory with his heel dug into something very personal.

The creature lifted his foot quickly, backing up to the wall before he teleported off.

To be continued.


	6. Chapter 6

Extremely sorry for the delay.

Chapter 6

Well, he hadn't quite expected the Slender to just disappear like that, but he wasn't going to complain, he was just going to lay there. Now what would he do? Maybe he'd just spend the night here in this house out in the cold with Jess, he might even cuddle up with the unconscious blond to share body heat. Con lifted his head up just enough to spot the flash light lying near Jess on the floor, illuminating a spot on the wall.

He could really use a hand from Slend right about now, but he knew that the slender wasn't going to show up anytime soon, so he pushed the thought of the being from his mind. Conall laid there for a moment longer with his eyes closed before he attempted to get up, but he ended up laying back down with the room started to spin. 'Would I even be able to drag Jess all the way back home? He is pretty heavy' He couldn't help but laugh a little at the thought of himself carrying the blond back home, and then let out a sad sigh.

The first thing Jess felt when he woke up was his head throbbing. He groaned, reaching up and wincing at the touch. His eyes opened and he stared through the dim morning light at tattered wallpaper. That's when it all came back to him and he gasped, sitting up and fighting back the dizziness.

He looked around frightfully for signs of the monster, but it was gone. That's when he saw Conall lying on the floor. He scrambled over to him, eyes watering as he saw all of the dried blood, bruises beginning to form around his cheek and a gash in his lip. His neck was a dried bloody mess, cuts that were unmistakably from teeth.

His hands trembled, afraid that if he touched him he would find that he was dead. It wouldn't be fair. Not Conall, who didn't judge Jess even though he himself wouldn't even smoke a joint. If he was dead, it was because Jess couldn't wait until the next day to pick up his fucking drugs. "C-Conn?" he murmured with a shaky voice, touching his face. Conall's skin was warm and Jess let out a relieved breath.

He picked up Conall's knife, stuffing it in his pocket. He checked his phone, but it was dead by now. Fuck. He looked at Conall, knowing he had to get him out of here. He struggled as he picked him up and made his way down the stairs. He kept vigilant as he walked through the woods, arms threatening to give out under Conall. He guessed it was a hell of a lot easier to carry someone in the movies.

Meanwhile, the Slenderman searched for his human. After a day of terrifying teenage girls and a crowd of drunk marines, he already wanted to see Conall again. Who would have thought anything would replace what he was designed to do? But Conall wasn't at home when he teleported in, nor was he in the library. The Slenderman slinked through town, worry starting to grow in him. Was Conall alright?

His worry was confirmed as he walked along the empty road near the woods and saw them in the distance, one of the boys carrying another. And he could see them clearly from here, Conall unconscious with his head hanging back. The boy stopped in his tracks at the sight of the Slenderman, but he had no time for sparing his fear. The boy began to run but stumbled, falling to the dirt beside the sidewalk. The Slenderman teleported to him and the blond shrieked, pulling out a knife.

"Get away!" he shouted.

The Slenderman paid no attention to it as he stared down at Conall, bruised and bloodied. And there he saw it, a bite from one of his own kind which filled him with outrage. He came forward and the boy swung the knife at him, forcing him to back off. But he came in again and the blonde struggled back, shouting at him not to come any closer.

The Slenderman hissed at the human with frustration, having no desire to deal with him. But his attention was quickly pulled as he heard a groan, and saw Conall begin to wake.

"What's with all the noise..?" He whined a bit like they were trying to wake him up to go to school. He opened his eyes after a moment of reluctantly keeping them shut, mainly because he didn't want to find out that last night actually happened, but the pain he was in was enough to let him know that the jerk slender hadn't been a dream. Con blinked the sleep from his sight and sort of just stared at the two with a blank look on his face, "…Good morning."

He greeted them with a nod of his head, then forced himself to his feet to stumble a few feet away into the woods before he collapsed once more, muttering something about wishing the forest would stop spinning. Conall was pretty done with everything at this point, he was done with Jess, done with that wretched house, and he was completely done with Slendermen. He rolled onto his stomach to get off of his bruised back and tried to get back up to his feet, but all he really did was roll onto his side, and curled up.

He wasn't even going to try to tell Jess to relax and that the Slender before him was a good guy because at this point he wasn't sure anymore. Is this what Slend did when he disappeared for days? He truly didn't want to be in a relationship with a monster that terrorized and beat up humans. At this point, Jess and Slend could both go sit and spin for all he cared.

When Conall collapsed the Slenderman tried to go to him, but the other boy was in front of him fast, knife pointed defensively.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he asked with an air of incredulity. "What are you… are you trying to be nice now?! After what you did to us? Knocked me out and did who knows what the hell to him! LOOK AT HIM! LOOK AT HIS FACE! Get the fuck away from us!"

The human was gaining confidence, and the Slenderman knew he had the right to his space after what had happened. One of his kind was trespassing, and had attacked Conall. He didn't know how it could be; the odds were too small that Conall of all the humans in his territory was the one. It had to have something to do with him.

He stood up straighter and backed off until he was about five yards away, but had no plans to leave just yet. He watched the blonde hurry over to the other and finally thought of something.

"The other," he called out, raising a hand to point at his tie, "What tie did he wear?"

The blond stared at him, wide-eyed. "Eat a dick!" He turned to Conall, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You got to get up, Conn. I think there's more than one. We got to get out of here and tell somebody."

Conall's eyebrows furrowed together in frustration and he reached up to place his hand on Jess' extended arm, "Jess.." He breathed out his name and squeezed his eyes shut. "I..I need to tell you something…something important." He pulled his hand back and covered his eyes for a moment, half to prepare himself for what he was going to say, and half to try to voice back the wave of sickness that hit him. "He..is.." Con pulled his hand away from his face to motion in the general direction of the slender, "Not the one that hurt us last night. He is my..my boyfriend."

"And even if we told," He continued, "No one would believe us…they didn't believe me as a child. The fact that you do drugs won't help our case either." He rolled onto his back slowly with a wince, and then waited for his friends reaction which he prayed wouldn't be a bad one.

Jess stared at him and then nodded. "Okay, I need to get you to the hospital for sure. You're delirious." He glanced up at the monster in a black suit and rubbed his face. This was too much for him. "Listen Conall. If you can understand me, I'm going to tell them an animal attacked us. Got that? I tripped running and hit my head, and it bit you. I'll figure out specifics later. Now come on, you have to get up and I can't carry you any farther."

The being suddenly appeared in front of them and Jess fell back on his ass. "God damn it! What?"

The Slenderman ignored him, reaching down and taking Conall under the arms. Carefully he lifted him into a standing position, not letting go in case his legs couldn't hold him up. Already, he could tell he was in no position to walk anywhere. He was more furious than ever, but kept it in. "Teleport?"

Conall gave Jess a thumbs up in agreement to the story he'd come up with, "Got it." He really didn't want to get up, who didn't like lying in the dirt, and leaves in the fall? He was about to say something sarcastic to the blond, but was cut off by Jess' screaming, and then he quickly found himself being lifted up to his feet.

He wobbled a bit while standing and covered his eyes with his right hand, managing to stay up on his feet for the first time today. "Tele..what?..Oh! Yeah..yeah…um…I can't recall the area around the hospital.." Con removed his hand and looked at Jess with a tired expression, "Do you remember..?"

Jess stared, dumfounded that Conall was just fine with being picked up by the 'thing'. Was… was Conall serious? He shook off the thought, not ready to go there yet. That was above the 'scale of crazy shit that wasn't possible' right up into to 'too fucking crazy to think about'. Meanwhile the monster was taking off his suit jacket, and throwing it over Conall's shoulders. No way. Nope. He was going to ignore it.

"The area?" he finally said. "What do you mean?" What do you need to know about…"

The creature and his best friend vanished mid-sentence, leaving Jess standing alone by the woods with no idea what had just happened.

The Slenderman had thought about the hospital as the boys talked, and before the blonde had answered he remembered a small alcove near the emergency room that he had once stepped out of to terrify a nurse who was sneaking a cigarette.

He teleported Conall into the alcove without warning. They were only a few feet from the sliding glass doors, and he held Conall by the shoulders. He wanted to say something, apologize for getting Conall into whatever mess had happened, but decided against it. It wasn't the right time. He held him by the back of the head, looking him over. "Can you walk?"

Conall hugged the Slender loosely, pressing his face into the being's suit before he tilted his head up to look at his face. "I would like to have a serious talk with you once I get out of the hospital, Slend." His eyebrows furrowed and he squeezed his eyes shut while he struggled to remember the color of the jerk Slender's tie. "I can make it inside, uh…" He opened his eyes and released him, "The tie was black…I think."

He lowered his head and turned carefully, letting the suit jacket slip off of his shoulders as he moved. "It was dark, so….bye." Con gave a half assed wave and clumsily made his way out of the alcove and through the sliding doors, quickly reaching for the nearest wall to keep himself from falling over.

The Slenderman watched him stagger into the hospital and saw a nurse rush to his side. For a moment it made him think that Conall deserved so much better than him. He deserved someone who could walk with him inside. There were so many things the Slenderman couldn't give him that a human could.

Soon a wheelchair was brought to him and he was taken away. For a while the being stayed in the alcove, brooding over what he had said. Conall wanted to talk with him, and the Slenderman's nervousness didn't stem from having to speak. His first assumption and greatest fear was that Conall wanted him to leave. And he had every right to, after what had happened. As for what had happened… Black Tie was the only possible culprit. There were only two Slendermen with solid black ties, and Bete Noire's territory was beyond the ocean. Black Tie… The Slenderman was going to destroy that youngling.

Hours past, and the Slenderman continued to lurk around the hospital. He saw the boy's grandfather arrive, driven by the next door neighbor. And after a long while, he left again. After him came his two friends, and eventually they too had gone. The sun began to set and the Slenderman crept into the Hospital, slipping through the shadows and walls in search of him. It took a while, but at last he found the right room and went inside. The human lay asleep in a bed, IVs running from his arm and a large bandage around his neck. The bruises had worsened through the day, and even in the dim light of the room he could see them. He reached forward, gently brushing his fingers against Conall's hand.

The day had gone by smoothly enough once he was settled into his hospital room; the pain medication had definitely brightened the remainder of the day. Shortly after he was sure he wouldn't have to worry about getting any more visitors, he allowed himself to slip into a light sleep. Con laid there in bed as the hours past, his mind vaguely coming out of the light sleep every once in a while to note the changes around him, but before he knew it he was sleeping back into the light sleep. Despite the fact that it only felt like he'd been asleep for an hour, the day had ticked by, and now he became aware of something touching his hand.

Conall opened his eyes tiredly and let them wander over, then up at the Slender being that had snuck into his room. He stared blankly for a moment, the pain meds had him a bit out of it, but he managed a lopsided grin as his eyes closed again. "Hey." He chuckled out quietly, lifting his hand to his face to carefully rub his eyes. He blinked a bit few times after he lowered his hand and tilted his head to the side while looking up at Slend. "You…okay?"

The Slenderman took his hand fully now that he was awake, moving down on one knee so he could face him closer. He nodded in response to the question, which was peculiar considering the situation. It was a matter of Conall being okay, but he could see it for himself that Conall was far from physically okay. It was overwhelmingly infuriating, but the being pushed it back to focus.

What Conall had mentioned earlier was in the forefront of the Slenderman's mind. He was nervous to ask, and held the human's hand with both of his own since he was allowing it… while he allowed it. "You wanted to talk?"

Conall stared at the Slender's hand with furrowed eyebrows, then reached over, and petted the pale hand gently. He nodded slightly as it to confirm something that he'd been wondering, then looked at the kneeling being. "Yeah..yeah…uh…Do you…" He closed his eyes while struggling to remember what it was that he even wanted to ask.

"Oh," he opened his eyes once more and frowned, "Do you…beat up humans and terrify them like that other slender? Is that what you do when you go away for days on end?" That was easy enough question, but he was a little worried about the beings answer. If Slend was as mean as the black tied being, then he truly didn't want to be with him anymore.

The question left the Slenderman feeling heavy inside, knowing there was no easy answer. He hesitated, trying to find the right words. "You remember… when I frightened you? Upstairs… in the old house… and then you ran?"

Conall stared at him for a moment, mouth opening slightly before it closed once more, and he nodded his head "Yeah, I do."

"That fear, fuels us." The Slenderman pulled his hands from Conall, preferring to be separated now than to watch the human's hands pull away after the news. "What happened last night, it is not our way. Black Tie will face consequences. So... I do terrorize, but not more than I have done to you. Not since I was young, have I hurt humans." He shook his head, still unsatisfied. "Still, I should have… not left you exposed. Should have… done more… I am sorry, Conall."

Conall would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy scaring people every once in a while, but then again he wasn't a 7 foot something faceless monster. He took his time while he digested the information and tried to figure out what his final judgment would be. What Slend had done to him hadn't been all that bad, if you could look past the nightmares, and extreme paranoia that came after encountering the being. But nightmares and paranoia were a whole lot better than being sore and bruised, so maybe he'd accept it?

He shook his head and raised his free arm to covered his eyes, having trouble coming to some kind of answer for the being. "I.." He began, biting his bottom lip for a moment, "I…It's…okay." Con finally answered, lowering his hand to smile a little at the Slenderman. "I'm okay with it if that's all you do and don't beat yourself up about what 'Black Tie' did to me. He just wanted to know why I wasn't as afraid of him as Jess was and…" He trailed off, losing his train of thought for a moment before he found it again, and continued speaking. "And I was a bit rude…then I sorta stabbed him."

He smiled sheepishly and hunched his shoulders slightly, looking away from Slend to look at something else, suddenly feeling a bit like he'd brought the whole thing upon himself.

The Slenderman felt as if a weight had been lifted from him when Conall's verdict was made. He almost started to move closer but paused as the human continued, not wanting to cut him off. His surprise increased as he listened, and was finally left shocked. Conall had been rude to a Slenderbeing? Yes, he could see that. The Slenderman's presence had numbed the human to creatures like him, and to see a second couldn't be as frightening as the first. On top of it, Black Tie was crude and unfiltered and he could very well see Conall taking his antics personally. But that he stabbed him?

A jagged grin pulled over his features and he leaned in, holding Conall's hands to his mouth for him to nuzzle, "Brave Conall." But his smile blanked into nothing as he began to worry. Black Tie was more verbal than most Slendermen, and it was possible he had cut Conall with his words as well as his teeth. "Did… he say anything… disconcerting?"

Con chuckled a bit while watching Slend nuzzle his hands, "Brave…For the first few minutes I guess, but I don't think it'd be as brave meeting him a second time." Just the thought alone filled him with dread and his pleasant expression faltered for a moment, but he pulled it back together quickly. Slend was here now, so there was no reason to be afraid now. He looked from his hands and focused on the being's 'face', "…Disconcerting..?

He thought for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, "He did ask me if I let you fuck me and maaan," Conall's smile returned and he snickered a bit, face growing red just at the thought of getting to do something like that with Slend. "That question caught me so off guard. If it were a snake, it would have bit me."

The Slenderbeing straightened upright, feeling the cold black blood drain out of his face. He didn't have words for all the things he was going to do to that piece of filth. He was going to break the bones in those gangly arms and crush his skull over and over until somehow he wouldn't be able to regenerate. He was going to bury his claws into that rotten…

He paused, watching the flush cross over Conall's face, and realized that while he raged, his human was dwelling on what the other being had said. He continued to look at the cute smile on his face. Oh, he was irresistible. No wonder the other being was asking inappropriate questions.

The Slenderman brushed a hand over the gauze on his neck, careful not to press against the wound. His hand continued up, rubbing the bottom of his earlobe. "It did bite you," he said with a teasing tone.

Conall rolled his eyes and shook his head very slightly, then tilted his head to the side to pull his ear free. "It sure did. Remind me to watch out for snakes cuz they've got a vicious bite." He took Slend by the hand and kissed the back of his hand gently, keeping his hand pressed lightly against his mouth for a few seconds longer. He looked back to the being with a thoughtful look, "Will you stay the night here?" He asked, letting go of his hand for him to do whatever with it.

He didn't really like the idea of sleeping alone in the hospital, mainly because he didn't want to wake up to BT ripping his guts out. Con sighed a little when he realized he might end up having nightmares, but he felt better knowing that if he woke up, Slend would be there with him.

Watching Conall close his eyes and feeling his warm mouth against the Slenderman's cool, white skin left the being with the sensation that everything would somehow be okay. He nodded once in response to the question and the human seemed glad of it.

They talked for a short while longer before Conall looked ready to sleep again, and the Slenderbeing closed the blinds to the brightly-lit hallway. By the time he turned around Conall had drifted back to sleep, and the Slenderman draped his coat over the hospital blanket and slipped beneath the bed to wait for morning.

By the time the nurse arrived the next morning, the two of them had said goodbye and the being was gone. He spent a few hours on the edge of town, looking for prey. The clouds had filled and were finally falling, gusts of rain soaking into the lawns and pushing small rivers along the roads and into the gutters. It wasn't easy to find prey outdoors in this weather, the school students having recess indoors and the hunters calling it a day. He finally found a few stray souls walking the streets in the rain, and had fed sufficiently by the time Conall was to be released. He returned to the hospital, just in time to see Conall leaving with his friend, Fred. Conall hurried to the boy's car, but only seconds in the heavy rain left him soaked.

Fred drove him home, and was refused by the Slenderman's human as he tried to help him to the door through the rain. Conall was definitely looking much healthier than he had yesterday. He watched from the woods as his Grandfather greeted him at the door, towel in hand. The Slenderman then teleported to Conall's room and waited for him there.

To be Continued.


End file.
